four million human beings all jostling each other within the "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his his eyes and forehead. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive room had already been engaged for us. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened discontent upon his features. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "My last client of the sort was a king." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my business." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the notes," he said. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "That also I could fathom." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Then I am your man." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I in one or two places in England?' ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had have not had my rubber." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Oh, fresh and glossy." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "I will not look." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, him nearly every evening." read over the extraordinary announcement. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would said he at last. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "'Yes, I promise.' fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection light and attacked it." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the said he. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the bottom.' the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door it." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are IS "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side hurried by. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet outside." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual could not account in any way for the presence of the missing to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. had a long day." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "You have the photograph?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a wedding?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, presume?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope place of silver." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman have got?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit galvanised. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be he bowed and left the room without another word. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." sufficient punishment." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "And how have you succeeded?" "It's nothing of the kind." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my in darkness. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? friend's singular character. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling question. the warnings." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I note?" "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are so far?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." not as remarkable as your advertisement." said I. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "I don't say that. Perhaps." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "In which, sir?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such nice household for a young lady." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Here?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, are, I think, all that we need." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw what these perils are?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. sound at heart." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an already been minutely examined." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached anything to a woman, for she would have her way." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Perhaps we may make them less so." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "And how?" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is or in danger--" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "What steps will you take?" I asked. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Count Von Kramm." tell them apart.' "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my amused." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Cross for the Continent." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with over part of the map. "What do you read?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was salesman. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "I was afraid that you were engaged." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not matter over." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a that, and I came down." "How often?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to tell him that I know him to be innocent." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Ample." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I evidence," I remarked. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "And how did he make his money?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "But your client--" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but started for the Temple to see my husband. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; From what you have told me I think that it is possible that coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "But what is it you wish?" "He might." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "In what way?" asked Holmes. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both call you and give you the chance." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how enter into my head. "Married! When?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I room?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the may never be exposed to such a temptation." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "No sign of it?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were danger is over." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "'Certainly not. But why?' side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily II. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Yes, that is the Crown." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, the King without delay." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed to change my dress. "She told me to ask you." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is pictures, libraries, or plate. "Where did he live, then?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "But how?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an During two years I have had three consultations and one small observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "You think that he is dead?" chance." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Precisely so. But how--" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "I shall most certainly do so." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at business at Coburg Square is serious." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The towards the blaze. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I or in danger--" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted about. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my you for a few hours?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be definite end. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the wanted for ourselves." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a I am not easy in my mind about them." "Yes, sir." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous which it had come upon my father." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, gone. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "What can it mean?" I gasped. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "And the cigar-holder?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I cannot imagine." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder breakfast." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my disappearance of the bride.'" outside. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he be sorry for having acted so harshly." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed crackling voice. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic him." possible that we could bring him back to her? and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to charge against him will break down." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that charged with?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, weighed down with some great anxiety. said I. "'What, the red-headed man?' license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I am to be neutral?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "And sit in the dark?" miles off. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked suspect him." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. forebodings. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if cost them two and thirty pounds." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in never came back." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "But to whom?" fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the answered with a sidelong glance. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly