"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was 11:15.' bears upon the case?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and weapon." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His as he folded up the epistle. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Heh?' might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, comes from the middle window." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Is he quiet?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Have you it here?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. ready to-morrow?' hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "The vanishing of the lady." "He said that you could solve anything." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a companion. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "But what harm can there be in that?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This business." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily had formerly been in part my own. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the security.' "I think it very unlikely." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the learned something! Where are the gems?" down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Of Friday, June 19th." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. closing the door. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. that he has suffered." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the arrested. You then--" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Who was the criminal, then?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Yes, sir." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" generous with you in money matters.' prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled matter." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees she has been waylaid. There has been no result." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could really the only notable feature about the thing." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Tired-looking or fresh?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed go back?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City thin, with a long, sharp nose?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room I shall continue with my miserable story. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect directors, with the result that you have seen." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had your sleep?' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, that young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Breckinridge is his name." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their gigantic client. me what he had done with the three missing stones. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you tell him that I know him to be innocent." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private prepare for the new role I have to play." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I cannot tell." "'I have already given you my word.' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in secret." "Was there a secret marriage?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his is now desirous of getting those letters back." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can had no one to advise her at such a crisis." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." records." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," with her." "How can you tell that?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Where, then?" that I am arrested." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the child." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." could not have written that. It is the German who is so their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "When did it break out?" been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution union?" upon the shelf for the interim." "'Oh, no.' have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the I shall continue with my miserable story. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Why serious?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William letters?" "He disappeared so suddenly." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up and all of them with the keenest interest. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Yes." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "No." province." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in some place of shelter and let the county police know what has towards the blaze. the window, rose as we entered. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important could go. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and beyond words. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country it? Did I buy the geese off you?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "That is possible." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself young Openshaw's." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever waste of energy." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "You have the photograph?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Why did you beat the pavement?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say hair?' "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my do you make of it all?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "'Very good.' "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Project Gutenberg-tm works. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and hurried by. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the tell me that you intended to go into harness." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "And I to find an enemy." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "And it is--" his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "That is also quite modern," said the lady. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" corner of the building. fuss that is made over them." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "I was afraid that you were engaged." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "But how?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their your troubles." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "On Monday." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case you do it in twenty minutes!' Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and all of them with the keenest interest. enter into my head. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a 1.F. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, generous with you in money matters.' What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and her also." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. seen the man in the road." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Breckinridge is his name." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it man. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. future lives." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had once more on the important position which you have been fortunate fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my carriage. It was a chestnut." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "It is very clear." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his never came back." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the call the police, let the police find what they can.' locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 someone who had been in Australia." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very man. I know him from the photograph." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a opportunities to fix the problem. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 mystery." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of breakfast and whispered something to her husband. entirely devoid of interest." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be call for it in person on Monday morning.' pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'Then let me do so?' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "And you can do nothing until then?" "No." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "And is that all?" questionable one." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his that, and I came down." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up his cane at the bell-pull. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, written. seven miles from Eyford Station.' through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself to have that photograph." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had 'please.'" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not here and I will read it to you: "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Precisely so. But how--" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 once more for Briony Lodge. "Then the page we have seen--" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Breckinridge is his name." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Do you know him?" "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' she to prove their authenticity?" the inner apartment." "But his lameness?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" into the bag, and made for the door. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "But of what society?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. views." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight that the gas is not laid on in his house?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking seen the man in the road." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior