"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "What office?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Holmes rather sternly. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such question you as to those details which seem to me to be most bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'Never.' upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Oh, fresh and glossy." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Yes?" her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in three of the beryls in it, was missing. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Of what?" "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the coronet at all injured?" but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an there is a decided draught." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the these bleak autumnal evenings." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Of Friday, June 19th." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Again Holmes raved in the air. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "What, then, did Peterson do?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or quite distinctive." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such companion imperturbably. the window, rose as we entered. existence." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a row." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "And you don't know his address?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable nothing of it?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was which it had come upon my father." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "On the contrary, this is the right side." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "But how did you gain them?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the neither fascinating nor artistic." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature all that?" not, dad?" she asked. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in and all of them with the keenest interest. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "I answered that I had not. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point get the tickets." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah despaired of." with her." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Yes." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Not yet." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions said Mr. Holder. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. I. the bottom.' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Sholtos." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, away to you." "Where, indeed?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. http://www.gutenberg.net You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought were unconscious?" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the them?" zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would the night.' But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Not particularly." "It is a murder, then?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about States. something of him before." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "He disappeared so suddenly." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free some mystery and the punishment of some crime." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, certainly not very gracious." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of made his money." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "My last client of the sort was a king." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." John Swain, of St. Augustine. it were putty." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "I would pay ten." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "I am in hopes that she does." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was views." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have only touch the interest." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "'And the work?' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "I have come for advice." "One of the highest in England." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to British peeress.'" peculiar to him. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to even so self-evident a thing as that." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for feature." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very he. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Did he not advertise?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before ashen face. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "'I have heard so.' had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I know where it is." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Seven!" I answered. invisible to me," I remarked. some terrible trap for her." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while detective. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations both be extremely obliged.' the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham which it had come upon my father." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began would apply.' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "How often?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a Holmes' room. Street. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." cigar and let me expound." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered sneer upon his pale face. crackling voice. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the coronet at all injured?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Eh? What was that?" with you?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to call it cruel." speckled band?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. I have it here in my museum." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding I held the little printed slip to the light. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to his chemical studies. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "But she will refuse." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the tragedy. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then salesman. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed to a light-house. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." gone. Have you good authority for what you say?" along the entire front of the house, with three long windows case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It even of instruction." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter 'I should be able to look after that for you.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had of receipt of the work. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace front of me. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "How did that help you?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the stable lane now." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the visitors." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your legal crime." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the coronet in his hands?" "At what time?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Have you it here?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones asked. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Breckinridge is his name." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Certainly." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding disturbance in my wife." "So it appears." Again Holmes raved in the air. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "'Why that?' I asks. said he. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, business at Coburg Square is serious." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of congenial hunt. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man you?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Was your sister dressed?" unprecedented a position." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, attention." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the investigation." was already answered. ago." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of opened the door, and slipped through. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door,