honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Eh? What was that?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "That is it on the dressing-table." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "My dear Holmes!" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined was used.' "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the night.' and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'Certainly not. But why?' Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive kindly on the shoulder. met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream made him keep the appointment." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the inner apartment." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the to arrive at through this?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "A thing like a cleaver," said he. weighed down with some great anxiety. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes noble correspondent could be. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving shall use the carriage to-night." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she front of me. presume?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while is worth.' "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I will, Miss Turner." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this and it need not interfere very much with one's other "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Yes, the wine-cellar." "On the contrary, this is the right side." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into papers diligently of late, have you not?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Yes, it was twisted." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Ha! you find it so?" have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "No legal papers or certificates?" "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." hands. "He said too much." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Did you observe the colour?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always to a more successful conclusion." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he things are very often connected not with the larger but with the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. forbidden door. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new ashen face. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post morning." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, bill, which interests me deeply." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. suspect him." "My stepfather's business papers." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "My dear Holmes!" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself I was concerned in it." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the appeal." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our said I. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "And why in hopes?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the charged with?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, you." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any she used." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "But the mystery?" bearing upon the case." "I shall most certainly do so." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is voice, changing her seat as requested. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you mystery." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Not I." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very people don't know." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he returning from some small jollification and was making his way railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter advice." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Well." to-morrow." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "'Ten to two.' perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "It was." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and means taking possession of that which another person has a prior drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is views." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "What! You do not mean bodies?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "And the cigar-holder?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent singular points about the case. What did the police think of the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. hour." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. straighten it?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "If I can be of use." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that never will be, entirely cleared up. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in it right.' "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, never will be, entirely cleared up. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Yes." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done The events in question occurred in the early days of my "'Yes, it was gone.' upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman must compliment you." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he ran thus: "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, outside. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the fatally injured? Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Certainly." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "I was mad--insane." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the you." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "And you thought he was pulled back?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. upon the shelf for the interim." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. II. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the you." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may if I call to-morrow?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less gone. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of occupations.' in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is train from Paddington which would bring you there at about even so self-evident a thing as that." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, hereditary King of Bohemia." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm to affect your life." had formerly been in part my own. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his stammered. that I can to serve you." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wedding?" know that the truth is known." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly clanging. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you with you alone." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Stolen." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do past. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand disappearance of these gems?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, cigar and let me expound." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of populous neighbourhood." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." as noiselessly as she had come. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask signal between you and your father? interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Yes?" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. gone. "I think that it is very probable." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Quite so." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every American. Then who could this American be, and why should he ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the trifles." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I would pay ten." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was matter over." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had quickly through a disagreeable task. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads my former friend and companion. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Absolutely none." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, place of silver." "Yes, only one." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a memory. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the Assizes." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." whether it answered to the description of any of their the coroner come to?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Entirely." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks main points of my analysis." "Certainly." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the nursery. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen investigation." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where