have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that ran thus: may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "It must be recovered." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Certainly." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent to surprise her." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "And I say east," said my patient. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from time." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of she used." "'Certainly not. But why?' "No, I am descending." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, them present such singular features as the strange train of an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front placed his cuttings. money should be paid at once.' "How many? I don't know." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come a few minutes he said that it would be all right. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the himself to hunt down. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Pool. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. that he has suffered." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger be sorry for having acted so harshly." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country exactly what you advise." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the bled considerably." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue if only as a check to my own memory." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time bare slabs of marble. "But I have heard all that you have heard." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and goes." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and meant it for the best. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a details." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Why? What do you mean?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Watson," he said cordially. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Not particularly." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him the running down." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "9th. McCauley cleared. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to sentimental considerations in the background which would induce part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, cause to be." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something little adventures." compunction about shooting them down." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have triumphant cloud from his cigarette. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of mystery." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a married her." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism gives a meaning to it." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without and a shock of very red hair. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There in the port of London." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "'Yes, I promise.' "You saw the ventilator, too?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a place no limit on the sum I may draw." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from fled together." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. forecastle of an emigrant ship. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Yes?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the said he. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Holmes' thin, eager face. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads me where it went to?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend is so. I know all about McCarthy." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Well, but China?" you." "Perhaps I have." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my what do you think they found in the pockets?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was became a certainty. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." became a certainty. pierced for earrings?" see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Oh, fresh and glossy." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE grasp, he hurried from the room. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this a room. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire fuss that is made over them." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester weighed down with some great anxiety. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "But what harm can there be in that?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "The vanishing of the lady." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "And leave your case unfinished?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." forebodings. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of good for you to do.' "'And what are they worth?' I asked. before, for it was considerably after midnight. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very will be renamed. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of hurried away. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you did not hear it also.' interested in these little problems, and since you are good "You are all wrong." nice household for a young lady." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "How on earth--" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. the address that was given us in the advertisement. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "But he might be a bachelor." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "I do." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late future lives." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. paper in the air. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little occurred." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue the King without delay." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the writers could invent nothing more crude." as he folded up the epistle. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was with the outside air!" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing than to us. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut you, my dear young lady?' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot looking up at the numbers of the houses." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Where, then, is my wife?" anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of fact, we may call it conclusive." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Proceed, then." him nearly every evening." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Get out!" said he. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the horse could go." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Well, some hundreds of times." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Stoke Moran?" said he. before the coroner and the police-court." it right.' wedding?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. are, I think, all that we need." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" husband's writing, madam." had formerly been in part my own. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all to-night." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "BALLARAT." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "So it appears." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "'Very good.' "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. Serpentine Avenue. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest ago." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, his knees, staring into the fire. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "It certainly sounds feasible." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate in one or two places in England?' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "And from a noble client?" all-comprehensive glances. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since weigh very heavily upon my conscience." just ask you whether you had heard it.' his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the learned something! Where are the gems?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "And it is--" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." shoulder; "he's all right." hand, madam?" itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard than was visible to me." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, cigars in their mouths. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "And how did he make his money?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "You have but to name it." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "To the police?" you." true." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He spark where all is dark to me." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a someone who had been in Australia." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but yards of it?' dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, little trying to do so much typewriting?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "And from a noble client?" paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my rat could hardly pass through." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Witness: Nothing definite. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? your co-operation." way in." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an away into the river." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. article?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Of what day?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I cannot imagine." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Do you go out much in society?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began wedding?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Never." "'About the same.' me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." absorbing." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." his face. fire. You quite follow me?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I