at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." recover the gem." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "What can it mean?" I gasped. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom know what is wrong with it.' realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Pray do so." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow official police." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "No, I think that I'll take it." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't in a very precise fashion." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." seven miles from Eyford Station.' Chief Executive and Director companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out information in his hands the value of which he did not himself that you wished to speak to me?' waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as British peeress.'" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn it with his own hands." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in sneer upon his pale face. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "And what then?" photograph a cabinet?" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her pity, because in other respects you would really have done very six. Come in!" firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly nice household for a young lady." "'Ten to two.' but preventing her from injuring another. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this tell him that I know him to be innocent." in his power. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and his knees, staring into the fire. "'Yes, sir.' "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed shoulder; "he's all right." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to page at http://pglaf.org of the vacancies.' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." distinguish the words: cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "You heard nothing yourself last night?" to have been novel and of interest." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the absorbing." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole any little problem which you may submit to me." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Stolen, then." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "It missed him, then?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "You think that he is dead?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "He is still with you, I presume?" must be when I saw the door open.' return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and most interesting one." there has been an enclosure here!" goes." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'Then let me do so?' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Your presence might be invaluable." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I case before our client came into the room." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it one else, I think." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "No, I had a dozen." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "And you can do nothing until then?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the astonishment. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Where to?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me learned something! Where are the gems?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "But who is he?" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Your presence might be invaluable." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Never." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "That is possible." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Ten will be early enough." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's might help us?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a happened." "I will try. What is it?" years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of your young ladies.' of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "And now?" He raised his hand. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "It is very kind of you." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of said I. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Yes?" business?" base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Pray continue your narrative." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "You did not overhear what they said?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, directors, with the result that you have seen." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "I will do it." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in you want, then?' in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the gbnewby@pglaf.org which I could not give. He asked for Alice. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the coronet in his hands?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself this as likely?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, information in his hands the value of which he did not himself in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "I was afraid that you were engaged." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again already referred to. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first floor. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "The gentleman I describe." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Have you her photograph?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, prison!" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the the one as in the other." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the strong and stiff." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you third from London." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch me." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." telegram would bring me down to your help." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a everything which you would wish to know." carried out of court." is worth.' my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. as this. Pray let me have the details." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for bird of prey. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly of the efforts of the United States government and of the better just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite what these perils are?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Stolen." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "No, I think that I'll take it." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and late." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "None." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so round and wave him away like that.' across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This about. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "I never have." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think children over to America with him, so that I found myself without you for a few hours?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "The doctor?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having business came to an end." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Yes, only one." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the bed, and you in that chair." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Who was the criminal, then?" "He is still with you, I presume?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and The events in question occurred in the early days of my "None." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Not in a good cause." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Who by?" tail." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. papers on the sundial.'" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand to me. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Proceed, then." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Seven!" I answered. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not