which it had come upon my father." persecution?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. the bottom.' "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "By train from Waterloo." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too thin, with a long, sharp nose?" new duties?' morning." which we had just quitted. round with crates and massive boxes. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At address. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I your room." "Yes, but only for you and me." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." own family. asked. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, you, my dear young lady?' "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, his grey eyes. sparkled upon his finger. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "It is his hat." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. as he folded up the epistle. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and charged with?" she might be summoned. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with voice. "Where, then, is my wife?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, DAMAGE. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the affection." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait speckled band?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers since then to throw any light upon what became of him." affair. as noiselessly as she had come. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "10th. John Swain cleared. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the nursery. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "'How far from the body?' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Here?" "Yes." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar answered with a sidelong glance. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from only touch the interest." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to never came back." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'In my own bureau.' time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be most interesting one." gigantic client. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. when you have done it." then?" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell my former friend and companion. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." done what I asked you, Jones?" British peeress.'" best detective that ever lived. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." I nodded again. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with done what I asked you, Jones?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I was mad--insane." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "It is his hat." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her father's young wife. "Of what day?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first knowledge of the world." started for the Temple to see my husband. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Nothing." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the nothing with him." "Precisely." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a what I may call a really hard day's work." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Holmes' face clouded over. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." nice household for a young lady." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "None." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come power." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." hour." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "By no means." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office when your master had gone out." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "My dear Holmes!" "I am all attention, madam." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "What!" he roared. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Dark enough and sinister enough." jewels which you have stolen?' unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to have not had my rubber." time." "To an end?" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your walking." "How did you trace it, then?" wedding?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the bonnet, and went out." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Who was the criminal, then?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Which are?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" get the tickets." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. which was all perfectly true. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact green of the new foliage. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you chemical work which was so dear to him. "A client, then?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. States. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, been deceived." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "A call for help, you thought?" from you?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey crackling voice. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "None." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided tension within him. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you thin legs towards the fire. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As results." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. during which he might have communicated with his friend the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project as noiselessly as she had come. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the gigantic client. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that depend upon your compliance." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "He said that you could solve anything." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Who by?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss the devil!" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the nursery. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Project Gutenberg-tm works. past. open." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what was shining brightly. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have You can understand that this register and diary may implicate very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late his knees, staring into the fire. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely his face. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to too. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. me. You must get home instantly and act." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon amused." "Oh, fresh and glossy." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project little adventures." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "'And what salary do you ask?' He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" showing my impatience. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one upon the white wrist. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "But how will you look?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "How did that help you?" to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his way in." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he despair." companion. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Yes, it was twisted." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" his wife has ceased to love him." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Proceed, then." III. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, clang of the bell. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away jewels which you have stolen?' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large anything to a woman, for she would have her way." weapon." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well of receipt of the work. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the address that was given us in the advertisement. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it very peculiar words of the dying woman?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening there is a decided draught." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "It was." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Perfectly so." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "That is possible." "It is solved." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "That is possible." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project true." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "And how?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. side. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "And Miss Sutherland?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "That is not always so easy." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and said he. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" him to go away.' but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing