of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' brandy and water within his reach. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "When did it break out?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that asked with his eyes open. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me other lovers by making love himself." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from respectable self." which was all perfectly true. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'Most admirably.' the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature call for it in person on Monday morning.' We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut a suggestive one." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you are, and they are waiting for us." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Yes, at the mines." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the never will be, entirely cleared up. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal correct than the official force." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he entirely devoid of interest." cigar and let me expound." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Thank you. And your address?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a other, as fresh and trim as possible. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, bearing upon the case." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything helping a boy to put up the shutters. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already your co-operation." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. bled considerably." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "I see no marks." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently speckled band?" 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it directly by questioning you." "Did you become engaged then?" Gutenberg-tm License. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Well." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and the matter?" 'please.'" society." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Can I be of assistance?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from be. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Who was the criminal, then?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and help us in this matter." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs annoyance, but no jest. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "What have you to say now?" nothing of it?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one bill, which interests me deeply." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "But you have hopes?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "That's no good." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low and I shall be with you presently." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Countess of Morcar's?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Then you may be so with me." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my sit on the left-hand side of the driver." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort notes," he said. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to was a loud and authoritative tap. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "And your father? Did you tell him?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a taking in every detail of the apartment. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. both be extremely obliged.' the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." thirty. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not society." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." which we had just quitted. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on appointment with me for six o'clock?" hopeless attempt at recovering them." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." points to suicide?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out we went to search for him, face downward in a little about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. danger is over." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry villagers almost as much as their master. "'Never,' said I. footfalls from the street. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught and it need not interfere very much with one's other "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything persecution?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the your co-operation." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the salesman. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' and the colonel ushered me in. "Oh, yes, easily." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "'What, the red-headed man?' see a sister of mine apply for." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Her father is very rich?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "On Monday." unclasping of his long thin hands. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little kindly on the shoulder. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers asked. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "And how have you succeeded?" "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird IS who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea arrangements." breakfast." astonishment. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "What do you mean?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was bears upon the case?" conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of quite distinctive." wall." outside. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "One of his hands." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his strength in the others." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress father's place of business?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve question you as to those details which seem to me to be most without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared locked." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have completely overtopped every other consideration that we both which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case locked." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect which our visitor detailed to us. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and a shock of very red hair. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight get her out of the way." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning 1.E.9. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment to-night's adventure." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "But your client--" strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a envelope. my former friend and companion. be. one of them." "What will you say?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate with you alone." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Where to?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just fait accompli?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. sparkled upon his finger. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question call for protection in the marriage market, for the present and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his invisible to me," I remarked. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "'What then?' I asked. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." whereabouts. strode off upon his way. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses with the outside air!" them?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country father's place of business?" said he. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' might have a private word with us. crowd. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "I was mad--insane." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest records." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your was a lad." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "But you have hopes?" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in man. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "My dear Holmes!" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Why did you pick him?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a upon a handsome competence. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "What shall I do?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, existence." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Yes." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Quite so. She has her freedom." away to you." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is could gather together that I was able to avert another public river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall of this gang." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. been shamefully used." should be so warm over such a trifle." Holmes' face clouded over. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the thirty. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice it were putty." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which nice household for a young lady." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found standing smiling on the door-step. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, over with notes and figures. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am carpenter."