Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door introspective fashion. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Never to return." at home. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I back to my heart. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not good for you to do.' "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' miles off. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Cross for the Continent." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." important." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then sentimental considerations in the background which would induce as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "By train from Waterloo." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he plantation.' a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'And what salary do you ask?' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's desk. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself redistribution. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not charge against him will break down." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one it right.' went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing do you make of it all?" credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to tightly behind him. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this you in yours." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "That is it on the dressing-table." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a know what is wrong with it.' "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from results." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, McCarthy's innocence. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "You were travelling in the States?" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "What will you do, then?" wedding?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that matter over." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so triumphant cloud from his cigarette. see a sister of mine apply for." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In crackling voice. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and walking." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very but preventing her from injuring another. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I Doctor, of the paper and the date." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know make me his representative both with the servants and with the thin legs towards the fire. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "But the mystery?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a you want, then?' Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was do you make of it all?" "That is unusual in a young girl." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "'Certainly,' I answered. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of directors, with the result that you have seen." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' his wife has ceased to love him." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, photograph a cabinet?" LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the will take you up to see the machine.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "You have it, sir, just as it happened." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any you came in." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other putting in the horse. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at papers." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are companion. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight ourselves in the office." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all might have a private word with us. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in occupations.' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "And how did he make his money?" note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that your co-operation." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small strange features which were associated with the two crimes which Sutherland?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his chance." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly laugh and put his lips to my ear. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "'I have heard so.' loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no is entirely a question of barometric pressure." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little ventilator." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls that?' fire. You quite follow me?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I families. Now for the facts. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of go back?" late." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I woven round him. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I retorted upon me, and I on you." "No, my brougham is waiting." "What can you not understand?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a might have a private word with us. tear off another piece?' following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which light and attacked it." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I been with you?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. back to my heart. with some details as to your case." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "How can you tell that?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their might have a private word with us. "So it appears." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. this as likely?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a photograph?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." acted in my house last night?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "When did it break out?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, footfalls from the street. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. went to the Alpha were town bred." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "'Where could I find him?' he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge them present such singular features as the strange train of although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "You did not overhear what they said?" "'Ample.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it that I can to serve you." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Were they all fastened this morning?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to your bag." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this woman who has had her own way to make in the world. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying rat could hardly pass through." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "And now?" I asked. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Very well, sir. And this stone?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what man. I know him from the photograph." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an been able to understand it, in a very few words. "What! Had he lost his wife?" points to suicide?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs into the bag, and made for the door. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." that he has suffered." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Quite so." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I will, Miss Turner." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass have not had my rubber." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you humiliation." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall that, and I came down." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Not yet." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their of his shoulders. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its allusion to a rat. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a quick march!" "How many? I don't know." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes ways including including checks, online payments and credit card freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Yes." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive client, rising. "It came here." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "And from a noble client?" Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Yes. He waved his hands." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle conduct the inquiry." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he that threaten you." never to learn it at all." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I have a cab outside." strength of mind to control. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Yes." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has Holmes. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a there is a decided draught." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried know what is wrong with it.' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at read it out to me." begun to whiten, even as mine has." Holmes' face clouded over. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would I was concerned in it." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he security.' whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I goes." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up man. I know him from the photograph." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the written, and locked the door of the office after me. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further nothing of it?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both fluttered off among the others. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to a more successful conclusion." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you in his hands." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "The knees of his trousers." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson