the inquest, and which are worth considering." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. must be when I saw the door open.' surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." tell him that I know him to be innocent." if she died from some sudden fright." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know most interesting one." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "A greater distance to travel." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," will be renamed. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but union?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." lost nothing by them." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "And Miss Sutherland?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the station." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. she used." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table daring than any effort of the imagination." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Nearly eleven." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a seem to you to be relevant or not." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a I shall communicate with you." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "I see no marks." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. crowd. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "What of the rat, then?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "None." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. as noiselessly as she had come. all?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in I shall communicate with you." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment been deceived." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic future lives." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of in this way: "About a month then." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "What! Had he lost his wife?" front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." be sorry for having acted so harshly." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "And you can do nothing until then?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "He might." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Who by?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Well, some hundreds of times." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold copied or distributed: the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "You were travelling in the States?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace used to be." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the October 9, 1890. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Come in!" said Holmes. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or read it out to me." a little more before I quite committed myself. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and think you a quite exceptional woman." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Then what has happened to him?" "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "None. Neville wrote those words." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Yes." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is one's self under obligations.' this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter system of imprisonment?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. strong reason behind." of the one which your family is now devouring." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love indeed which he could not unravel. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "My own seal." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Never to return." drawing your inferences." "But you can know nothing of this?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. feature." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Entirely." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to union?" I shall continue with my miserable story. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on nonsense.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. was lame." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray his face. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "But how?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I tension within him. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these the driver. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. way in." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "'And the work?' the stones. know all about it," he snarled. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to at a side door. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "'Yes, I promise.' "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I assure you that I am in your hands." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an you do it in twenty minutes!' league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of said I. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Gutenberg-tm License. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Did your wife hear all this?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is whatever might befall. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white are windows in it, of course?" "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and which was all perfectly true. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to meanly of me." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw gone. "One?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Dr. Gregory B. Newby appeared upon the scene." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a hurried away. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "'How far from the body?' my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "It surprised me." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper main points of my analysis." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward village inn over there?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be place no limit on the sum I may draw." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have flock.' an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we should be taken.' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about colonel looking down at me. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was and glanced through. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of wedding?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner giving me time to thank him. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." records." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the ashen face. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "And why?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better in the port of London." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Ha! you find it so?" Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary trifles." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a bill, which interests me deeply." second window is the one that I jumped from." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the ran thus: no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "The murder was done with it." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the night.' are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "It is true that I have been generally successful." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a come either from the window or the door. My attention was the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third had this final quarrel? case before our client came into the room." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire straightened it out again. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for desk. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered washing it down with a long draught of water. disappearance of the bride.'" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Project Gutenberg-tm works. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case