a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp Holmes' face clouded over. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as introspective fashion. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now minor matters until to-morrow." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Which are?" Holmes rather sternly. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Here?" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back remarked. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'Most admirably.' metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them outbreak?" Holmes rather sternly. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Your French gold?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Where, indeed?" "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk know that the truth is known." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "'Never,' said I. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Gutenberg-tm License. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Dark enough and sinister enough." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the you, my dear young lady?' say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I would pay ten." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a hour." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions laugh and put his lips to my ear. with frightened eyes at his accuser. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly happened." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "In heaven's name, what for?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it green of the new foliage. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened know all about it," he snarled. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Yesterday." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and emerged. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not spare." horse could go." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "No. What a strange idea!" "I have my revolver," said I. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" at once, for I have only half an hour." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips woven round him. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from heavy and sharp instrument." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. it." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, His name is Francis Prosper." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be discontent upon his features. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'Yes.' With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father burst into a hearty fit of laughter. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "'Then let me do so?' was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she was it brought him the coronet? Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted matter." name is different." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "'What, the red-headed man?' "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too sneer upon his pale face. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, as he folded up the epistle. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared him and tried to hold him back. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in bedroom door." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Yes, only one." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation him nearly every evening." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in empty. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no 11:15.' "And Miss Sutherland?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "What, then?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the breakfast?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would into the bag, and made for the door. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in gone. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "'I am sure that I do not know.' along the entire front of the house, with three long windows would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is bachelor.' in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one ourselves in the office." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to come either from the window or the door. My attention was There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it one's self under obligations.' ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, death." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so him, that man would not have given me such complete information remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew peculiar to him. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Well?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "I should like to see him very much." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked up this clue while it is still hot." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a said he. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." about. and all of them with the keenest interest. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us said I. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "And sit in the dark?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very away into the river." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Which dealer's?' "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Leadenhall Street--and--" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On tell me that you intended to go into harness." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was right! Sit down and let us talk it over." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel crowd. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." exactly what you advise." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that crime." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid that I am arrested." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Does that suggest anything?" "And what then?" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "She told me to ask you." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the coat-tails." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been experiences." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he in his hands." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one infinite languor in his face. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "It is solved." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in perplexity from it to my illustrious client. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "'Yes, sir.' "It is his hat." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, done what I asked you, Jones?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Not in a good cause." and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Yes." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between later, upon the night of May 2nd." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no light and attacked it." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they James Windibank. Voilà tout!" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "Witness: Nothing definite. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Most admirably.' colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Well, some hundreds of times." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss should be so warm over such a trifle." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide until night should bring an explanation. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "And now?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "He said that you could solve anything." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that appointment with me for six o'clock?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil it with his own hands." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Whose house is it?" quite distinctive." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free that before taking the final step I should like to submit the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It get the tickets." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. help us in this matter." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate leave you to your papers for a little." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so seem to you to be relevant or not." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." of Fenchurch Street." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I think that I had better go, Holmes." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few and a shock of very red hair. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the