III. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely cigars in their mouths. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the bled considerably." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent and the church but not where the lady lived." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only or other trace. But how on earth--" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once are, I think, all that we need." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that 11:15.' What do you deduce from it?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger see a sister of mine apply for." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he introspective fashion. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. orange pips. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" yourselves in at night?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was whatever might befall. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Why did you pick him?" his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Absolutely?" neither fascinating nor artistic." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, too. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a room?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "But of what society?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "He said that you could solve anything." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Certainly." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." morning." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in were new raised from a basin. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak with the outside air!" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Ample." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I was it brought him the coronet? "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there instituted." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it very peculiar words of the dying woman?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "But his left-handedness." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the too. father's young wife. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. had this final quarrel? you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Have you good authority for what you say?" has little to do with my story." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' a good hundred miles off by now." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy said Mr. Holder. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, gentleman's clothes. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But he might be a bachelor." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "When did she vanish, then?" a good hundred miles off by now." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' forebodings. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and chair. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed detained." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work tell him that I know him to be innocent." your room." particular state visit http://pglaf.org wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. wall." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "It is half-past ten now." "He disappeared so suddenly." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much His smile broadened. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "And the murderer?" surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per instituted." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted some city in a dream. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "But you were on a friendly footing?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in dear old homesteads?" Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Perhaps we may make them less so." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "By no means." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but formed some opinion?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "'What are you doing there?' he asked. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Certainly." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm tell them apart.' the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "'What would be the hours?' I asked. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE sparkled upon his finger. instincts rose up against that laugh. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud whereabouts. depend upon your compliance." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. so.' "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the most interesting one." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was have an American origin." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among problems help me to do so." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, main points of my analysis." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "On your arm?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Edgeware Road. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "What will you say?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the returned to France?" was shining brightly. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'I have heard so.' calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Do you go out much in society?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I see no marks." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his front of the hall door has given its name to the place. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, is a common subject for conversation. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes visitors." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Where, then?" "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Is he quiet?" possible that we could bring him back to her? seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, case-book, which he consulted. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Project Gutenberg-tm works. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is to miss it." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark was already answered. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the few hundred pounds.' and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "My dear Holmes!" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "In heaven's name, what for?" enough to aid us in our search." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are went to the Alpha were town bred." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be sooner or later she must fall a victim. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found information in his hands the value of which he did not himself had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she morning." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Only as much as we can deduce." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "He slept on the premises." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of read it out to me." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom his huge brown hands. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since do." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Nothing." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "You don't mind breaking the law?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Indeed! Whose, then?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Can I be of assistance?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into key turn in the lock." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the south-west, I see." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "How many? I don't know." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we delighted to hear it," he said. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "'What, the red-headed man?' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would wife's character?" companion. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a you want, then?' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young me have 200 pounds?' correct than the official force." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some money should be paid at once.' animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. in this note: strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "How do you know, then?" "Only as much as we can deduce." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed entirely devoid of interest." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." British peeress.'" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "No, I am descending." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he morning." call you and give you the chance." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred and inquire as to the address." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in arrangements." "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to be there in time for your coming." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has fact, we may call it conclusive." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked useful material for showing traces. The double line a little makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. for its centre. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "I will, Miss Turner." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Absolutely?" handed it to him. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the people don't know." "But how will you look?"