Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with note?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "They are typewritten," I remarked. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it few hundred pounds.' Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Yes, certainly." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. status with the IRS. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "So it appears." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, coat-tails." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if cheerful." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point fattened it expressly for you.' while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in directors, with the result that you have seen." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Very. But will he see it?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the warnings." "But his left-handedness." both be extremely obliged.' cheerful." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been so.' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have and capable of preserving a secret.' continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I from the brougham. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "How did he come?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek writing, and yet I know it well." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen more terrible than the truth. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal said he, "my real name is James Ryder." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." be. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, him, that man would not have given me such complete information the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was been shamefully used." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and maid will bring up your coffee." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Has he come with you to-night?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm what do you think they found in the pockets?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "I think it very unlikely." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. what do you think they found in the pockets?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view what these perils are?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do indiscretion." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the cigars in the box." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their a good hundred miles off by now." him. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off with frightened eyes at his accuser. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You his face. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive that I may have something better before very many minutes are "The Cedars?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a over part of the map. "What do you read?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have was already answered. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was daring than any effort of the imagination." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction this man was intellectual?" "You have carte blanche." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a main points of my analysis." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "And the murderer?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom paper in the air. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Has he come with you to-night?" "I know where it is." is acting for the best. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "That sounds a little paradoxical." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the really the only notable feature about the thing." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of the bottom.' "Why serious?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few with the outside air!" But Holmes shook his head gravely. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the works. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in highroad, where all traces were lost. "And sit in the dark?" empty. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the London for the present?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "I was afraid that you were engaged." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his detained." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. any." "Stolen, then." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Yes." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' tapping his fingers upon the table. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I geese which you supplied to the Alpha." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little politicians who had been sent down from the North. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Then I can wait in the next room." "'I have already given you my word.' just called myself is not exactly my own." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Very murderous indeed." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'In my own bureau.' much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." sake, don't!" fire. You quite follow me?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE and files of the old papers, following the future career of every now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, on re-entering her father's house?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "My Mary? Impossible!" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Here?" unprecedented a position." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "In which, sir?" in a friendly supper." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone I held the little printed slip to the light. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up with some details as to your case." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very I was concerned in it." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "'I have already given you my word.' reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "And what did you learn from him?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "You horrify me." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Project Gutenberg-tm works. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is strength in the others." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Miss Holder?" at my own good fortune. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Then, as to money?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill them?" remarked. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if even so self-evident a thing as that." confronted him. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the morning and make my own way in the world.' had a long day." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Entirely." "'Yes.' got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Yes." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in memory. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and of the one which your family is now devouring." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "You horrify me." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right happened." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "But the mystery?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and husband's writing, madam." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! tear off another piece?' read over the extraordinary announcement. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'Yes, sir.' earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." to-night." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found and shall probably return to London by the evening train." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working astonishment. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." outbreak?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Have you it here?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by point in the dark hollow of his hand. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His if only as a check to my own memory." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "That you are never beaten." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "And what then?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "He said too much." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the noting anything else of interest. chamber." "And how did you find out?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the everything which you would wish to know." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" you?' we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Miss Holder?" the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Yes, but only for you and me." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of have not had my rubber." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken have one." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "In heaven's name, what for?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap past. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I jewels which you have stolen?' she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but carriage. It was a chestnut." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of than to us.