There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, to arrive at through this?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in system of imprisonment?" "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Yes." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given unprecedented a position." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal on in his house." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "And now?" I asked. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "At half-wages, in fact." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "'Yes, it was gone.' and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was meanly of me." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I sound at heart." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination 'I should be able to look after that for you.' The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "It is solved." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I directors, with the result that you have seen." the driver. if only as a check to my own memory." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not fashion which was peculiar to him. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had works. See paragraph 1.E below. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is depend upon my doing so.' been lifted and conveyed somewhere." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most meant." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall been able to understand it, in a very few words. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. then?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a I. strong and stiff." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it fattened it expressly for you.' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite was keenly on my guard against him. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "But how?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to he died? "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR the warnings." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with take the flies, but not before." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Street. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "You know me, then?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND upon the sideboard." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." there was no need for father to know." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "At what time?" noting anything else of interest. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "From his hat?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the gone. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his miles off. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the gone. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Yes, at the mines." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "I have hopes." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have you for a few hours?" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Dirty?" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far upon the sideboard." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "May I see it?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose me, and I could not think that his explanation of the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "'And the work?' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining congenial hunt. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, there is a decided draught." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." I shall communicate with you." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I see many objections to any such theory." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Entirely." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his sofa. This way, please!" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return what I may call a really hard day's work." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" which it had come upon my father." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do not within a twentieth part of the market price." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. bedroom door." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I strength." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong through." "Will you bet, then?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Precisely." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several wanted for ourselves." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I London for the present?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions which our visitor detailed to us. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs whether it answered to the description of any of their master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "And you thought he was pulled back?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own felt?" important." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the window, rose as we entered. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about you." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit if I call to-morrow?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "You have it, sir, just as it happened." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "And Irene Adler?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I good for you to do.' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about this poor creature." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it three fields round his house, and there he would take his within hail.' "And from a noble client?" "So it appears." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "I should wish to." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered papers must be those that are destroyed.' Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Yes." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until you in yours." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "The decline of his fortunes, then?" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Why serious?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst at a side door. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. I nodded to show that I had heard. had formerly been in part my own. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "I have come for advice." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Stoke Moran." your bag." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Witness: I must still refuse. morning." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time used to be." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and my room." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I will not look." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his about. words came to my lips. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Then he might have called to you?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent them?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Pray be precise as to details," said he. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, sneer upon his pale face. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, approach us with offers to donate. "And what then?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were new duties?' at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood used to be." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." had died away into the silence from which it rose. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "By all means." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. neither fascinating nor artistic." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think that you can jump it.' purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO views." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal You want to know what became of those geese?" "But how will you look?" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. a room. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the http://www.gutenberg.net my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might stood on the top of it. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "How on earth--" purpose of examination. door?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.