"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Quite so." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, overpowering excitement and concern. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They experiences." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Then the page we have seen--" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "The rest you will leave in our hands." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY we went to search for him, face downward in a little woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Was your sister dressed?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and shall probably return to London by the evening train." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, entirely lost his self-respect." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness man. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said hereditary King of Bohemia." "Have you it here?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Precisely." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would look upon these things in a different way." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I have an American origin." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Frequently." "On Monday." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we happened." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat fasten all the windows?" the bed, and you in that chair." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I cannot imagine." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in now. It seems that there had been some informality about their society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her back alive. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in here." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "It is half-past ten now." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One there has been an enclosure here!" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and his grey eyes. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "You were travelling in the States?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "And you can do nothing until then?" "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion read over the extraordinary announcement. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "He is still with you, I presume?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by important." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Tired-looking or fresh?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser detective. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing burst out into a roar of laughter. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up singular points about the case. What did the police think of the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and in my life." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little client, rising. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "I came to find a friend." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Where to?" here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced DAMAGE. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which vault. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Deserted you?" all that?" congenial hunt. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "How do you know, then?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." For additional contact information: to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the know that the truth is known." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." certainly not very gracious." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" gives a meaning to it." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I was shining brightly. unkempt, staring out at me. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my your equipment. the general public were present, then?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while cigars in the box." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of of them has the shutters up.' same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "And what then?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in Project Gutenberg-tm works. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private seem to you to be relevant or not." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the himself to tell his story. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. better grown goose." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "What of the rat, then?" cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the forecastle of an emigrant ship. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Bought." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should and a shock of very red hair. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "A confidential servant?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "My own seal." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I only touch the interest." events than those which have happened in my own family." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have you in yours." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "I say it is." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of have been better. It is all right." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable what is your own theory as to what took place?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs been lifted and conveyed somewhere." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian that?' "But I am all in the dark." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "My stepfather's business papers." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in criminal. We have already had experience of such." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our about here speaks of his kindness to him." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "I shall be delighted." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the date of his supposed suicide." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the is now desirous of getting those letters back." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, carried out of court." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, maid will bring up your coffee." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "But we can't all be." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Nothing." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose which our visitor detailed to us. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Ah!" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know thought that she would have been so carried away." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a your sleep?' "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the neither fascinating nor artistic." "Where, indeed?" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Where is it, then?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as tied." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from meant it for the best. "What is it?" on re-entering her father's house?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Dirty?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the papers on the sundial.'" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Yes." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their new acquaintance to Baker Street. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there horse could go." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable kindly on the shoulder. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I ashen face. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall you?" wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we here and I will read it to you: of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum putting in the horse. posted to-day." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" were wasted." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the matter." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. than was visible to me." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than likely to be some crony of the landlady's." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to outside. Arthur Conan Doyle "Nothing." Mrs. Toller serenely. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the so-precious time, but come!' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'No, I know no one in these parts.' it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "The best possible." was it brought him the coronet? threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Yes." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this on in his house." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Yes, I promise.' The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. the running down." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been prove to be little relation between the different incidents of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Count Von Kramm." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Young McCarthy must be got off, however." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'What then?' I asked. "Yes. He waved his hands." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you chemical work which was so dear to him. to-night." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "No, I had a dozen." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Pope's Court, Fleet Street." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the detained." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with foot. Sutherland. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in