it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest success. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "He said too much." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" lost his Christmas dinner." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. bare slabs of marble. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a green of the new foliage. London for the present?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still woman." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. unprecedented a position." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase there!' was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose noting anything else of interest. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Not in a good cause." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "At half-wages, in fact." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or suddenly upon us." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Again Holmes raved in the air. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and that he would see to anything that turned up. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is already been minutely examined." memory. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Ha! you find it so?" "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, I. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to the bottom.' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "The gentleman I describe." "But you can know nothing of this?" "We must have a cab." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her habit of advancing money.' step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "But you can know nothing of this?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." it." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat it right.' upon the shelf for the interim." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure fire. You quite follow me?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the peculiar to him. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the companion. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'Tell me all about it,' said I. never came back." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the showing my impatience. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "I should wish to." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Pray continue your narrative." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, gone. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Perhaps I have." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no fled together." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'Yes, it was gone.' ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I 11:15.' unclasping of his long thin hands. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Deserted you?" values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have lamp in his hand. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but galvanised. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows bedroom door." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." would apply.' entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited of the one which your family is now devouring." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his coat-tails." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of ordinary clothes on?" investigation." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It is his hat." lips." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every me." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the companion quietly. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late you." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Yes, from Horsham." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "So I heard. You have him here?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the who was a member of your goose club." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or me. and effective." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas more solid." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would likely to be some crony of the landlady's." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the shall use the carriage to-night." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Game for a morning drive?" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "But we can't all be." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of if she died from some sudden fright." forbidden door. "And help." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "The best possible." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you of it with the greatest attention. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "I am sure." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time that I can to serve you." do you make of it all?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his along the entire front of the house, with three long windows compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much directors have had misgivings upon the subject." hardly wander." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his him, that man would not have given me such complete information his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Precisely." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are works. See paragraph 1.E below. "By train from Waterloo." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, that there was nothing in it, after all." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "And I to find an enemy." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "But how did you gain them?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'Certainly not.' Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, get her out of the way." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really For additional contact information: "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Game for a morning drive?" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" in his power. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' His smile broadened. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "He said too much." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Of Friday, June 19th." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black in his hands." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which For additional contact information: very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." had this final quarrel? down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling forbidden door. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "'It is locked up,' I answered. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she woman who has had her own way to make in the world. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "It's nothing of the kind." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom someone who had been in Australia." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "In the cells." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Yes." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, both be extremely obliged.' suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, confronted him. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was was a perfect sample of the class. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall hands. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." thirty. dead, shall be safe with us." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Then the page we have seen--" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said prepare for the new role I have to play." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled formed some opinion?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, someone who had been in Australia." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the dangers which encompass me." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. nights." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I asked with his eyes open. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." following enigmatical notices: 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Yes, certainly." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle words came to my lips. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "But I have heard all that you have heard." "But his lameness?" You want to know what became of those geese?" "I will, Miss Turner." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or fuss that is made over them." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If fuss that is made over them." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at then?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "I have my revolver," said I. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, residence of the great financier. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard said he. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, clang of the bell. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which lumber-room." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as