including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Dr. Becher's." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life security.' my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all indeed which he could not unravel. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Yes." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ of this gang." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the it were putty." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise humiliation." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed night.' said he. me. You must get home instantly and act." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "'There is a drive, then?' many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "But the mystery?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second hour?' stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Oh, yes, easily." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; system of imprisonment?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "I will do it." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. locked." "'What then?' I asked. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Pray continue your narrative." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had me." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "That is it on the dressing-table." is worth.' that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, weighed down with some great anxiety. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, deduce something from that?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "And now?" He raised his hand. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges waste of energy." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do was feeling which was the fattest.' "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It goes to the housekeeper's room." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are colonel looking down at me. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Well, some hundreds of times." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given back alive. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round his forehead." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the never came back." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink photograph a cabinet?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she prison!" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. little adventures." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "And the cigar-holder?" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you infinite languor in his face. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'What, the red-headed man?' and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you his fortune, and I went back to pa. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in derbies." voice, changing her seat as requested. with you alone." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "To an end?" me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards placed his cuttings. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, if only as a check to my own memory." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the room while you explain this matter?" "You think that he is dead?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately I was concerned in it." Sholtos." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "And how?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup the general public were present, then?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "But how will you look?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid within hail.' noble correspondent could be. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "But who is he?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." meant." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "No." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes married her." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "No, my brougham is waiting." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, detective. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the to Leatherhead. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "No." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Precisely." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe went to the Alpha were town bred." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "And when will you call?" of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my fled together." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you my secret was safe in his possession. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell his fortune, and I went back to pa. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "To the police?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." that took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once directly by questioning you." me upon any point which I do not make clear." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Did your wife hear all this?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Very truly yours, "On your arm?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to foot. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away have established a very serious case against the son of the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the October 9, 1890. you give your casting vote to?" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "And what did you see?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "But she could not love him." made him keep the appointment." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "But she could not love him." annoyance, but no jest. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" his face. the very morning of the wedding." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." his forehead." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the been able to understand it, in a very few words. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle it. "Very murderous indeed." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very know what is wrong with it.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' even of instruction." him!" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "How often?" - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at not, dad?" she asked. "Not particularly." "You were travelling in the States?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I took the paper from him and read as follows: "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." morning." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such lost his Christmas dinner." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these other means.' dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready imbecility!" he cried. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'Certainly not. But why?' "Oh, the cause is excellent!" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "But what harm can there be in that?" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the 1.E.9. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. lectures into a series of tales." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "You have carte blanche." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every my former friend and companion. during which he might have communicated with his friend the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "And what did you see?" "And now?" I asked. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY weighed down with some great anxiety. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "May I see it?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "When did she vanish, then?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Where does the thing come from?' the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his now. It seems that there had been some informality about their as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then been with you?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "And from a noble client?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been have got?" business?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the to surprise her." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I vanished into the darkness. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which to take care of herself." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock once more for Briony Lodge. strong and stiff." spark where all is dark to me." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "We must have a cab." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "And now?" I asked. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'Stolen!' he cried. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Yes, it was twisted." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "'Never.' observed. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Come in!" said he. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to his cane at the bell-pull. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Could he throw no light?" his eyes and forehead. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the looking up at the numbers of the houses." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Why serious?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. in my life." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so It may be so in this case, also." train.' "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of to some other building. room had already been engaged for us. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of murdered man." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but feature." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you there when the Rucastles went away." cheerful." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you vanished into the darkness.