her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who in his power. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "My private note-paper." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain conceal it?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Perfectly so." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "BALLARAT." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young true." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "You horrify me!" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." few hundred pounds.' and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers guilty parties." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child man. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, begun to whiten, even as mine has." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "And your mother is alive?" go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "I was sure that I might rely on you." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features girl said." "Perhaps I have." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the It may be so in this case, also." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his to a more successful conclusion." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after bearing upon the case." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. and glanced through. the salesman. late." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "'And the work?' from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as unclasping of his long thin hands. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "So I have heard." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "And from a noble client?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us extraordinary contortions. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about II. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I fear not." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "No more words. Get out!" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some wife's character?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." that interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "No, thank goodness, she did not." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" voice, changing her seat as requested. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this ways including including checks, online payments and credit card reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "I fear not." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from individual and becomes the badge of a society." as he remarks, very much against the son." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." looking up at the numbers of the houses." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Certainly, madam." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Holmes' face clouded over. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for spark where all is dark to me." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up upon the white wrist. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few down. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. was feeling which was the fattest.' and put his glass in his pocket. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow frequently gained my first real insight into the character of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "My opinion is in no way altered." of Fenchurch Street." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Absolutely?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Munro.' "Breckinridge is his name." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every have had none more fantastic than this." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "So I heard. You have him here?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first get her out of the way." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Perfectly so." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn it were putty." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "You have it, sir, just as it happened." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was and the colonel ushered me in. flock.' the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'And what salary do you ask?' hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been awkward doing business with an alias." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Yes, but only for you and me." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. until night should bring an explanation. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he particular state visit http://pglaf.org penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of certainly not very gracious." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully to-night." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, helping a boy to put up the shutters. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "And Miss Sutherland?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great strange features which were associated with the two crimes which that you wished to speak to me?' indiscretion." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in I leave." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" out of this horrible affair." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you not use it unless it is absolutely needed." chemical work which was so dear to him. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and some water from a caraffe. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." sneer upon his pale face. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Then I do not see the point." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can in this note: his eyes and forehead. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Married! When?" "Really! You surprise me." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Have you it here?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she learned something! Where are the gems?" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major colonel looking down at me. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "You think so, too?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish sake, don't!" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." politicians who had been sent down from the North. upon the sideboard." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "It is true that I have been generally successful." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and fatally injured? his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Again Holmes raved in the air. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Absolutely?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Very murderous indeed." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. your Highness to the police-station?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "On Monday." questioning and rather startled gaze. man. I know him from the photograph." vault. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible I nodded to show that I had heard. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I was sure that I might rely on you." is so. I know all about McCarthy." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "I have solved it." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my results." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug License. You must require such a user to return or "And did you observe any change in her then?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a could go. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Mary, has deserted me." there is a decided draught." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so that "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Game for a morning drive?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." used to be." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "No, my brougham is waiting." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "No bad?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact envelope. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the coroner come to?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, II. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Not in a good cause." exactly what you advise." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his lamp. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the formed some opinion?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" asked. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a is," said he presently: 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many *** START: FULL LICENSE *** presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "What?" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that never will be, entirely cleared up. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the there in twenty minutes." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the have not had my rubber." the date of his supposed suicide." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "I will do it." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" are, and they are waiting for us." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. mystery!" more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "It is possible." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "And for present expenses?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to despaired of." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Yes, only one." appointment with me for six o'clock?" out of this horrible affair." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "And it is--" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked detained." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the ceiling. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the morning." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at figure." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Here?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it James Windibank. Voilà tout!" and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch