"To an English lawyer named Norton." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded that dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded down from London to inquire more deeply into it." were unconscious?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of him, that man would not have given me such complete information thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "But how?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "I was afraid that you were engaged." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the this as likely?" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "A call for help, you thought?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." way in." "He might." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "And did you observe any change in her then?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended rose-bushes. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "I should like to see him very much." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "You have the photograph?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "And why in hopes?" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far at a side door. my room." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little his grey eyes. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "It is no ordinary one." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were way in everything. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the south-west, I see." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are bird I ate is country bred." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "10th. John Swain cleared. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he giving me time to thank him. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, went to the Alpha were town bred." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so true." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey wedding?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is conclusions. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who rose-bushes. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, which our visitor detailed to us. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another you understand?" "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I will be renamed. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing house for five minutes.' total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "I am following you closely," I answered. "'Is purely nominal.' "Well." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You of them has the shutters up.' "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Pope's Court, Fleet Street." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "It came here." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "He said too much." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old likely to be some crony of the landlady's." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "'Oh, no.' this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address The telegram which we eventually received came late one night shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Awake, Watson?" he asked. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Very much so." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and speckled band?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." own family. "Then you may be so with me." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after yards of it?' clang of the bell. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are placed his cuttings. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "She will not sell." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil think that he is innocent?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; know all about it," he snarled. wedding?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate indiscretion." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the morning and make my own way in the world.' the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Never." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they writers could invent nothing more crude." my secret was safe in his possession. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "None." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Serpentine Avenue. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "I promise," said Holmes. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought plantation.' them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who there!' "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER brought there to personate someone, and the real person is I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "She told me to ask you." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very 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 am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Indeed! Whose, then?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. other means.' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "What then?" "No. What a strange idea!" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." have one." outbreak?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "ARAT," I read. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "The landlord of the Alpha." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could then?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, one which it was hard to resist. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic chance." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Oh, the cause is excellent!" and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Yes, they were peculiar boots." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been memory. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were whole matter to your consideration." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "A call for help, you thought?" had picked up in the wood. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "At the wedding breakfast." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you passage and a tap at the door. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very status with the IRS. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "He disappeared so suddenly." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark crackling voice. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "An enemy?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull to that open window." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his pressing in one house as in another. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "And the cigar-holder?" "Entirely." generous with you in money matters.' national property. I was determined that the law should have its woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "You have it, sir, just as it happened." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you occupations.' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Then I shall certainly come." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." used to be." "What! Had he lost his wife?" than was visible to me." you." the south-west, I see." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry meant." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and asked with his eyes open. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, as noiselessly as she had come. highly," said Holmes. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Bought." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to unkempt, staring out at me. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you bird I ate is country bred." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from happened." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "And I say east," said my patient. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he placed his cuttings. "No, I am descending." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that wife's character?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Yes." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander know all about it," he snarled. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed soul! here is her carriage at the door." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Which are?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while foresight and the moral retrogression?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Nor running a chance of arrest?"