was it brought him the coronet? "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray assist you in forming an opinion." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Perhaps we may make them less so." and all of them with the keenest interest. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just his huge brown hands. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "No. What a strange idea!" "It is half-past ten now." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall cigars in their mouths. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and mystery may be cleared along those lines." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "'Never.' Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "I see many objections to any such theory." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at something of him before." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "She walked into the breakfast-room." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. presume?" Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the him nearly every evening." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "'Oh, no.' digesting their breakfasts at home." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have was a perfect sample of the class. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son lectures into a series of tales." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to spare." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "In answer to an advertisement." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in and the colonel ushered me in. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." chambers. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking questioning and rather startled gaze. "Perfectly so." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. or other trace. But how on earth--" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out and a shock of very red hair. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "You know me, then?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." recover the gem." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Entirely." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from strong and stiff." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." voice, changing her seat as requested. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "He slept on the premises." "But the mystery?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "'Stolen!' he cried. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were your only hope of safety." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the one as in the other." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Never to return." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been present strange and interesting features that it is no easy have I gained?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and and the colonel ushered me in. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Yes, it would be as well." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "And your mother is alive?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name name is different." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Where does the thing come from?' answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem how narrow had been my escape. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "How did he come?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the side-table." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few money should be paid at once.' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross south, for the country is more deserted there." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Why, what do you mean?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord front of me. if I call to-morrow?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "What will you say?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the him and tried to hold him back. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, It may be so in this case, also." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" and effective." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "And sit in the dark?" "You are hungry," I remarked. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "I was sure that I might rely on you." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Yes. He waved his hands." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is me." "Well, but China?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "And you thought he was pulled back?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "What office?" Chief Executive and Director customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the I think that I could be of assistance to you." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked me what he had done with the three missing stones. "'I am sure if I had known--' James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Watson," he said cordially. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is as he remarks, very much against the son." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the ran thus: IS There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure crackling voice. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with writers could invent nothing more crude." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "No." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid cup of tea. "If I can be of use." his face which made him a very different person to the round, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better was not a bird to be seen there. "But how?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have must be when I saw the door open.' agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' hand, madam?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the to me. husband's writing, madam." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not since then to throw any light upon what became of him." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "No good news?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Dirty?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight papers must be those that are destroyed.' the coronet in his hand?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "By no means." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." My friend smiled. upon the shelf for the interim." "By train from Waterloo." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. just called myself is not exactly my own." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I say it is." there!' as he remarks, very much against the son." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. highroad, where all traces were lost. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "'And the work?' from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice strength in the others." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his written, and locked the door of the office after me. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, companion. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Yes." the house with me." like that before?" "What office?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from trifles." "But how?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Deserted you?" felt the room to be a little close.' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most telegram would bring me down to your help." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which carriage. It was a chestnut." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Frequently." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to or in danger--" to his chemical studies. is now desirous of getting those letters back." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of His name is Francis Prosper." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "'Never,' said I. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "So I heard. You have him here?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "What have you to say now?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle of the vacancies.' Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Nothing." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might money should be paid at once.' beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and and inquire as to the address." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Yes." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the address that was given us in the advertisement. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Was your sister dressed?" begin with, and I had not got mine yet." Holmes' thin, eager face. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend was keenly on my guard against him. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." least a most suspicious remark." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the