easy-going way." The summons was a brief and urgent one. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Yes, sir.' nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a tightly behind him. have been better. It is all right." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "My dear Holmes!" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in of Mr. Rucastle's." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall strong reason behind." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how experiences." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw hair?' hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "When did it break out?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. not, dad?" she asked. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for swore that no one else had been in the front room during the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Pope's Court. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly writing, and yet I know it well." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. approach us with offers to donate. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our I nodded to show that I had heard. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train yourselves in at night?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "I saw her in conversation with her maid." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to should be so warm over such a trifle." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Why did you pick him?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "The vanishing of the lady." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you jewels which you have stolen?' succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Won't it ring?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "And I say east," said my patient. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions digesting their breakfasts at home." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "He might." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely least a most suspicious remark." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the never came back." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his train.' back alive. to have been novel and of interest." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I cannot tell." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might do.' most important business. It is probable that he will be away all at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly to miss it." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "I should like to see him very much." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, comes from the middle window." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to go from here to the Strand." purpose of examination. "And why in hopes?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of himself in a perplexing position. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his outsides of the windows. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. o'clock is it?" He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. minor matters until to-morrow." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. rooms." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little been deceived." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I matters immensely." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who said I. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Texas, I think." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was to miss it." "Dark enough and sinister enough." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Yes.' with her." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade was feeling which was the fattest.' smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a that you saw all that I did." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Holmes." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "That is not always so easy." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. few hundred pounds.' before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "You did not overhear what they said?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Precisely so. But how--" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at ran thus: "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "You have carte blanche." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood been able to understand it, in a very few words. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should to a more successful conclusion." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, bled considerably." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite out of this horrible affair." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has lost nothing by them." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hardly wander." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "You are hungry," I remarked. strong and stiff." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he notes," he said. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a undoubtedly my uncle's." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "And for present expenses?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as corner of the building. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at gigantic client. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. it." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave prove to be little relation between the different incidents of companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same that threaten you." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious Holmes." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly been deceived." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. she used." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We I nodded again. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, hardly wander." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I am about to be married." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding whether it answered to the description of any of their keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the this as likely?" clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, bell. Holmes whistled. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the coronet in his hands?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Murdered?" "And Irene Adler?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I am to be neutral?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "How do you know, then?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "What office?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you seven miles from Eyford Station.' month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Was he the only applicant?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" quick march!" entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "'And the work?' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, held up the lantern and gazed about him. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him bore every mark of being an average commonplace British emerged. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any him. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Yes, it would be as well." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. plantation.' "Of what?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some secret." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. without a word or a look. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "What, then, did Peterson do?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sofa. This way, please!" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "'Is purely nominal.' fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and opened a pocket-book and took out a note. in my life." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me away into the river." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "But she could not love him." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place more terrible than the truth. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the his forehead." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I am sure." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "I was certainly surprised to find you there." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I she used." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, placed his cuttings. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. most interesting one." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the coronet at all injured?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; II. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended know that the truth is known." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "It looks newer than the other things?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has again, where I was soon asleep. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were introspective fashion. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Certainly." What do you deduce from it?" "'Then let me do so?' beg that you will break it off." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we States. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' hard-headed British jury." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered ready to-morrow?' dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this