enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, you in your example." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in forbidden door. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day three fields round his house, and there he would take his swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "And how have you succeeded?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "And how have you succeeded?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to remarked. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "And who is her maid?" and all of them with the keenest interest. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step unprofitable." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been trying to your nerves." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold conceal it?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "But how will you look?" disturbance in my wife." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the danger is over." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the ceiling. been shamefully used." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a detective. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "What then?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to with some details as to your case." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. of a light. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the hard-headed British jury." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "He might." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who which I could not give. He asked for Alice. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Nothing." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough chemical work which was so dear to him. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Who by?" The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior families. Now for the facts. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Pray continue your narrative." "And the murderer?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You did not overhear what they said?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for really the only notable feature about the thing." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you bears upon the case?" and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up could go. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its down in his armchair and closing his eyes. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "What then?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so to a more successful conclusion." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "I cannot tell." "What will you say?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "How did he come?" skylight. thin legs towards the fire. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with events, Mr. Windibank!" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that ways including including checks, online payments and credit card had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It round with crates and massive boxes. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE of your young ladies.' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Have you her photograph?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon depend upon your compliance." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Your presence might be invaluable." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." learned something! Where are the gems?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And point in the dark hollow of his hand. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "And for present expenses?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Yes." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an and your relations to her." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a at my own good fortune. returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots the dangers which encompass me." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Leave Paddington by the 11:15." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a formed some opinion?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you secret." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was chemical work which was so dear to him. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small cup of tea. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question lost nothing by them." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his question," said Holmes, smiling. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was unprofitable." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: not, dad?" she asked. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in matter over." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. asked. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very had no one to advise her at such a crisis." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for wife's character?" had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to not, dad?" she asked. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, better grown goose." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger You want to know what became of those geese?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, roused himself from his reverie. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may drove away. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, matter." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" present." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "No?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were gentleman's clothes. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very chill to my heart. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over that I can to serve you." Literary Archive Foundation and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Indeed! Whose, then?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and for securing the situation." "Certainly." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Yes. He waved his hands." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too undoubtedly my uncle's." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Yes, only one." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the business matters.' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the general public were present, then?" Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to undoubtedly my uncle's." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "No, but the enclosure is." this man was intellectual?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one unclasping of his long thin hands. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Was the window open?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, case before our client came into the room." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either husband's writing, madam." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "And sit in the dark?" "That is not always so easy." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "He is dead," cried several voices. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" have accepted such a situation. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my strength." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband name is different." "I cannot tell." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole whatever might befall. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from over here." do.' "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" passage and a tap at the door. "Yes." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of be sorry for having acted so harshly." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Well." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Imitated." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet newspaper selections." Holmes. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally you." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms matters immensely." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You not as remarkable as your advertisement." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan for securing the situation." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "She walked into the breakfast-room." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "I am to be neutral?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, again." "May I see it?" money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Young McCarthy must be got off, however." clang of the bell. Again Holmes raved in the air. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. ready to-morrow?' acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Perhaps I have." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "I cannot imagine." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her secret." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "His face fell immediately. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." the Assizes." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the to-night's adventure." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me for and were ordered to this address. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "'Yes, it was gone.' just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, already been minutely examined." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Has he come with you to-night?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I guessed as much." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "You have it, sir, just as it happened." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but arrested. You then--" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated stalked out of the room. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in could not have written that. It is the German who is so when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that Pope's Court, Fleet Street." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one remarked. during that time.' paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "She walked into the breakfast-room." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry all?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. presume?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for or other trace. But how on earth--" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you your troubles." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. it were putty." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have you came in." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "No more words. Get out!" corner of the building. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "About a month then." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "And from a noble client?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which you." License. You must require such a user to return or "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest