"What! Had he lost his wife?" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the armchair which I pushed forward for him. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Absolutely?" I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Yes." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce anything to a woman, for she would have her way." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast shaken than I had ever seen him. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few bedroom door." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the you in yours." "And your mother is alive?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." said he. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in outsides of the windows. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Perhaps we may make them less so." lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter heavy and sharp instrument." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, that there was nothing in it, after all." "Nothing." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over from you?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any secret." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay here." "Thank you. Pray proceed." on re-entering her father's house?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Dr. Becher's." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for ago." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar hurried by. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his geese which you supplied to the Alpha." believe that I should never have any practice at all. "I cannot tell." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Watson," he said cordially. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard whereabouts. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "I am following you closely," I answered. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Where, then?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Yes, it would be as well." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." hand, madam?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily in his hands." "I fear not." nice household for a young lady." "What have you to say now?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Not at all. I only doubt--' the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Nothing?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, congenial hunt. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "And is that all?" "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Will you bet, then?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not compunction about shooting them down." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." his face. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and yards of it?' must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing had this final quarrel? corner of the building. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you chambers. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "And how in the world did you find them?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the was keenly on my guard against him. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Yesterday." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. to change my dress. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "'Certainly,' I answered. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "No, I think that I'll take it." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Married! When?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For enter into my head. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots already been minutely examined." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "How on earth--" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'In my own bureau.' and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "There are none." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the unprofitable." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the tragedy. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been which are rolled in Rotterdam." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, client, rising. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "An enemy?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. prison!" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Nothing?" "Why? What do you mean?" that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Ten will be early enough." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Where, indeed?" ceremony." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and vault. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little matter." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of charged with?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the driver. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City and laid it on the table. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Seven!" I answered. matters immensely." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond where we are going." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the date of his supposed suicide." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "When did it break out?" same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do impression behind it as though a window had gently closed believe that I should never have any practice at all. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly lids now and glanced across at his visitor. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, and that he would see to anything that turned up. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "No. His orders were to stay in the house." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual imbecility!" he cried. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful The note was undated, and without either signature or address. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "It is very kind of you." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Really! You surprise me." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right together. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "A call for help, you thought?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men seven miles from Eyford Station.' after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "10th. John Swain cleared. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might a monotonous occupation." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the sofa. This way, please!" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too ill-usage at the hands of fortune. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of gone. strength in the others." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the drove away. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Yes, at the mines." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no as he folded up the epistle. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Whose house is it?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "But it has twice been burgled." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting voice, changing her seat as requested. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ about. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it was shining brightly. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. father's young wife. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your outsides of the windows. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, begun to whiten, even as mine has." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Whose house is it?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "VIOLET HUNTER." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not electronic works charge against him will break down." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can success. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of fashion which was peculiar to him. man. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was will he say when he returns?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'Certainly not. But why?' "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit pound a week." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "How on earth--" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you pound a week." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." better in every way that they should make their position a little "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, were unconscious?" "Why? What do you mean?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was bell. Holmes whistled. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Nearly eleven." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "'Most admirably.' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it never to learn it at all." is a common subject for conversation. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. absorbing." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his completely overtopped every other consideration that we both sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary a very grave face. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just fluttered off among the others. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." desk. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life empty. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, second." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and to me. these bleak autumnal evenings." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Yes, at the mines." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "No, my brougham is waiting." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly there!' out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its distinguish the words: something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. bird of prey. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Where, then?" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I once more to my work. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the sparkled upon his finger. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But simple cases which are so extremely difficult." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the Friday. Was it to be in church?" many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove anything to a woman, for she would have her way." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. lost his Christmas dinner." it were putty."