showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this late!' of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was and prosperity to your house. Good-night." over part of the map. "What do you read?" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the call it cruel." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a as this. Pray let me have the details." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which neither fascinating nor artistic." a room. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were I think that I could be of assistance to you." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." of it with the greatest attention. IS deduce something from that?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "It is very clear." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the business matters.' and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of an introduction to him?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "I promise," said Holmes. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "I cannot tell." "What, then, did Peterson do?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your have an American origin." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." strength." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of strong reason behind." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "It is a murder, then?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by beg that you will break it off." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the bird I ate is country bred." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the tell them apart.' all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "That is possible." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Tired-looking or fresh?" the warnings." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same legal crime." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased heavily into it. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Witness: I must still refuse. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough gone. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the station." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, past. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "The King of Scandinavia." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting too. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "I have solved it." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Yes." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll signal between you and your father? "I see many objections to any such theory." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from of Fenchurch Street." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, never came back." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "Entirely." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all had a long day." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, compunction about shooting them down." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Well, some hundreds of times." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my it means?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over or in danger--" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Stoke Moran." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since Stoke Moran." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Yes." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Foundation "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "And now?" He raised his hand. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Very well, sir. And this stone?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "And how did you find out?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his visitors." hand, madam?" Eyford." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "And on what day did he meet his death?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have when your master had gone out." might have a private word with us. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day his fortune, and I went back to pa. hurried away. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin went to the Alpha were town bred." less than 26s. 4d. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. appointment with me for six o'clock?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' which it had come upon my father." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, thought that she would have been so carried away." success. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong eavesdroppers?' these bleak autumnal evenings." companion imperturbably. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the The King stared at him in amazement. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my that?' matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had down. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Yes." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But this man was intellectual?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." sneer upon his pale face. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Was your sister dressed?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Yes, I promise.' little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the is four-and-twenty." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in your room." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. the night.' then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with my friend's incisive reasoning. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Here?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wife's character?" pound a week." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, said I. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to round and wave him away like that.' have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your train from Paddington which would bring you there at about reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "So I am. Very much so." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." already been minutely examined." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. death." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Well, it is a possible supposition." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Nothing?" hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening is so. I know all about McCarthy." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Nothing?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" and no precautions can guard against." dates and names. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "And the murderer?" "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Your presence might be invaluable." views." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "No?" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Was there a secret marriage?" is four-and-twenty." emerged. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the and glanced through. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "You forget that I know nothing about it." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Absolutely?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had presented which may be striking and bizarre without being papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged papers." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she someone who had been in Australia." "Very much so." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "On Monday." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My one else, I think." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Eyford." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next village inn over there?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of to arrive at through this?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps closely." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and is a common subject for conversation. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of so.' smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "It was." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I his forehead." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary shadow pass over his face as I spoke. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us that he will be back before evening." "To an English lawyer named Norton." better in every way that they should make their position a little Lee, in the county of Kent." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "What can it mean?" I gasped. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Was there a secret marriage?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white character. "And who is her maid?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "It is his hat." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his coroner's jury." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, coat-tails." speckled band?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had jewels which you have stolen?' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the warnings." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "No, finished." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right pictures, libraries, or plate. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Then you may entirely rely on me." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round excitement. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has disappearance of these gems?" "No more words. Get out!" better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined into the bag, and made for the door. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I have not had my rubber." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "So I am. Very much so." read it out to me." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and woven round him. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you train.' "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the