I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." fire. You quite follow me?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "But to whom?" "That also I could fathom." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As business came to an end." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate been with you?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me him to go away.' tightly behind him. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "'In my own bureau.' studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "No, I had a dozen." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My instituted." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the coronet in his hands?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered was a lad." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she you came in." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I never have." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after vague figure huddled up in the darkness. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the I took the paper from him and read as follows: have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may present." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a kind enough to tell me what I should do." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve might have a private word with us. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the closing the door. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the beyond words. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, skylight. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Of what?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a seen the man in the road." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "I am sure." certainly do as you advise." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "And now?" I asked. "And who is her maid?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Stoke Moran." forbidden door. over here." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the row." "And when will you call?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the south-west, I see." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who system of imprisonment?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "My dear Holmes!" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right that?' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such detective. "And why in hopes?" companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "No, distinctly professional." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "And what did you see?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Yes." "And the cigar-holder?" "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "But the mystery?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of to talk it over. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my which was all perfectly true. were unconscious?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only advice." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be legal crime." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, your room." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Certainly." putting in the horse. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His strong and stiff." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." seen the man in the road." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a six. Come in!" deduce something from that?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'What, the red-headed man?' "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "But his lameness?" purpose of examination. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the spark where all is dark to me." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am his huge brown hands. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "What, then?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had my secret was safe in his possession. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw bears upon the case?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she memory. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "It is no ordinary one." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Then, how do you know?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. memory. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn village inn over there?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "If I can be of use." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own woven round him. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there window when the police appeared." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California politicians who had been sent down from the North. may never be exposed to such a temptation." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest case before our client came into the room." to change my dress. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may weary and pale-looking. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to someone who had been in Australia." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what lost his Christmas dinner." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few that the gas is not laid on in his house?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Holmes. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady at once, for I have only half an hour." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where just ask you whether you had heard it.' "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, fled together." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I have come for advice." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I should be immensely obliged to you." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the King without delay." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "I should like to see him very much." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a is four-and-twenty." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always morning." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the night.' never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Yes, that is the Crown." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our himself to tell his story. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may photograph?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we to-night's adventure." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still you." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the highroad, where all traces were lost. security.' sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Not I." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." During two years I have had three consultations and one small case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than you." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did you?' conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through even of instruction." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "But of what society?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third to tackle the facts." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." fishes. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the read it out to me." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Countess of Morcar's?" hard-headed British jury." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without present." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "May I see it?" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "The murder was done with it." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' gigantic client. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face against a man in the prime of life?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning that you can jump it.' and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "My opinion is in no way altered." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy heavily into it. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I the night.' my former friend and companion. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "'What do you call purely nominal?' "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'It is locked up,' I answered. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter it." "How did you deduce the select?" Leadenhall Street--and--" and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by nonsense.' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera have I gained?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something fishes. "Precisely." "No, but the enclosure is." night.' said he. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. or in danger--" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the within hail.' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned call you and give you the chance." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how with some details as to your case." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "I saw her in conversation with her maid." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates read over the extraordinary announcement. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean