homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have to a light-house. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "No." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," do." and looked back. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "'Yes.' to go into your room and bar your shutters?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your It may be so in this case, also." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. colonel looking down at me. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my thirty. such person." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting habit of advancing money.' "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more and glanced through. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most the Friday. Was it to be in church?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the events than those which have happened in my own family." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, sake, don't!" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with side. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a strength of mind to control. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Literary Archive Foundation to tackle the facts." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began thin, with a long, sharp nose?" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that more terrible than the truth. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a again on its way. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he this remarkable episode. "You will not go there first?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "To the police?" "A call for help, you thought?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "'How far from the body?' started for the Temple to see my husband. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "My private note-paper." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' of note-paper. It read in this fashion: finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic upon an income of about 60 pounds." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" rose-bushes. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "It is very clear." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any ventilator." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Yes." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to thin, with a long, sharp nose?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That my secret was safe in his possession. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. a suggestive one." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Have you her photograph?" in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent on re-entering her father's house?" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Now, then, what's the last entry?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. him, that man would not have given me such complete information weary and pale-looking. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask thin legs towards the fire. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'Oh, no.' visitors." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to rat could hardly pass through." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been one's self under obligations.' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this was a lad." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from learned something! Where are the gems?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or four million human beings all jostling each other within the "And how did he make his money?" "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his his fortune, and I went back to pa. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." of the one which your family is now devouring." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "You will not go there first?" question," said Holmes, smiling. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds he. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Not in the least." Sutherland. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "That also I could fathom." your most interesting statement." morning." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able yet." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with dear old homesteads?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with His name is Francis Prosper." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me round with crates and massive boxes. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which felt?" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a that, and I came down." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "When did she vanish, then?" me." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella a room. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a of them has the shutters up.' "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'About the same.' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of highly," said Holmes. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I their singular warning or token before them when starting upon horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "How do you know, then?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be promised to bring home. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "But how?" "I am following you closely," I answered. brain must have something in it." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "And why?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "There is the writing." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "VIOLET HUNTER." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Where, then?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Yes." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Your presence might be invaluable." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so country, and eventually married, without anyone having a admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with States. that "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own for securing the situation." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step my friend's incisive reasoning. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before bird of prey. you." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right carpenter." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" fact, we may call it conclusive." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' interested in these little problems, and since you are good in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in you." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "It is half-past ten now." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened letters?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "What steps will you take?" I asked. villagers almost as much as their master. married her." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "A confidential servant?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which opened a pocket-book and took out a note. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you have one." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in she used." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Has he come with you to-night?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one unprecedented a position." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. village inn over there?" "And how did you verify them?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. neither fascinating nor artistic." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "And Miss Sutherland?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ran thus: "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I ordinary clothes on?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "My dear Holmes!" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "But what harm can there be in that?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Pope's Court. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. him!" minor matters until to-morrow." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "But your client--" fashion which was peculiar to him. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your for and were ordered to this address. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes tapping his fingers upon the table. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I colour had been driven from his face. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was