drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Gutenberg-tm License. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative might help us?" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my weary and pale-looking. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" arrested. You then--" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I don't believe it." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "You'll never persuade me to believe that." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With cigars in the box." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Quite so." "Was he the only applicant?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The plantation.' "Very well, sir. And this stone?" head. So long, then!" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the and all of them with the keenest interest. "But what harm can there be in that?" "And is that all?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the his fortune, and I went back to pa. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read your bag." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "What! Had he lost his wife?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Chief Executive and Director time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first License. You must require such a user to return or "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "But she could not love him." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in in. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the salesman. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his God! What an exposure! What can I do?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire maiden herself was most instructive." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who voice. is now desirous of getting those letters back." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "The doctor?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence fashion which was peculiar to him. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE with some details as to your case." "No sign of it?" again before evening." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch closely." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Here?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him than to us. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend trifles." "No, thank goodness, she did not." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "What can it mean?" I gasped. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is what is your own theory as to what took place?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. legal crime." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Lestrade of Scotland Yard." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. infinite languor in his face. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. door?" he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in my former friend and companion. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our there was no need for father to know." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case them?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was without a word or a look. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "No?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the roots. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my relief. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Yes." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, in his power. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "My own seal." "And how did he make his money?" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the strength." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "You are hungry," I remarked. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "I am all attention, madam." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "And I." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "But you have hopes?" disappearance of the bride.'" The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Nor running a chance of arrest?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the to talk it over. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'There is a drive, then?' for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a and looked back. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Yes." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "She told me to ask you." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." room. promised to bring home. "It is half-past ten now." them, and came down just as you departed. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting returned to France?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his that he will be back before evening." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Her father is very rich?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "And Miss Sutherland?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was McCarthy's innocence. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning of the vacancies.' fasten all the windows?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "I beg pardon." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and of it with the greatest attention. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we shag which I had seen upon the previous night. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "But his lameness?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to residence of the great financier. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that photograph a cabinet?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "My own seal." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Indeed! Whose, then?" me. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is at my own good fortune. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while true." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "'Quite sure, dad.' woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to fish-monger and a tide-waiter." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "By all means." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could gone. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven himself in a perplexing position. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "'Entirely.' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and less than 26s. 4d. wedding?" was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Well?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE was used.' shoulder; "he's all right." mystery!" "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a and wait." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, of." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you when your master had gone out." held up the lantern and gazed about him. fled together." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "And who is her maid?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of other means.' "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "I cannot imagine." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "But not more so than I to find you." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you strong and stiff." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Holmes' room. girl said." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Perfectly so." said Mr. Holder. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to ways including including checks, online payments and credit card which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw pound a week." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "No more words. Get out!" by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I excitement. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black