gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A lost his Christmas dinner." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I have hopes." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Yes." Doctor, of the paper and the date." "What, then?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "On the contrary, this is the right side." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the coroner come to?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do What do you deduce from it?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His people don't know." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I experiences." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House he. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let mystery may be cleared along those lines." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I do." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "It is possible." breakfast?" "'Where to?' "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Where did you address your letters, then?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "This concluded the examination of the witness." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "The Coroner: What do you mean? prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable His smile broadened. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. six. Come in!" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, is," said he presently: "No, thank goodness, she did not." charge against him will break down." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "How did you trace it, then?" do you make of it all?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Thank you. And your address?" back into the street. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece one else, I think." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have did not hear it also.' skylight. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she behind me. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "But his left-handedness." drawing your inferences." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "You saw the ventilator, too?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "It came here." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Yes, the wine-cellar." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after did not hear it also.' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "I fear not." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "My dear Holmes!" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no note?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they will not take me long to tell. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "You have the photograph?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I have hopes." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "No. His orders were to stay in the house." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Yes, it was twisted." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a enough to aid us in our search." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not digesting their breakfasts at home." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this developed." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of carpenter." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have should be so warm over such a trifle." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "By all means." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "'And the work?' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Not I." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Game for a morning drive?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a meant it for the best. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his weary and pale-looking. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, think that he is innocent?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bare slabs of marble. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my little adventures." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the armchair which I pushed forward for him. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "I will do it." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "And it is--" fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with newspaper selections." again." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be always that they were such commands as a lady might with papers." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent make me his representative both with the servants and with the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Nothing." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the hurried away. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other roused himself from his reverie. pressing in one house as in another. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "But how?" sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'Quite sure, dad.' "I am still in the dark." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "My private note-paper." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, main points of my analysis." "'I shall certainly be there.' "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of see me here to avoid scandal." once more for Briony Lodge. invisible to me," I remarked. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you any little problem which you may submit to me." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in six. Come in!" belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my room had already been engaged for us. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. these bleak autumnal evenings." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you your only hope of safety." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for people don't know." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered voice. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Why, it's a dummy," said he. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have that you saw all that I did." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "No. What a strange idea!" "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own away into the river." "Did you observe the colour?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker details." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'Yes.' "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. of Fenchurch Street." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "What, then, did Peterson do?" shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "But it has twice been burgled." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "My opinion is in no way altered." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus him." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door to a light-house. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the room?" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body families. Now for the facts. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name events than those which have happened in my own family." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Your presence might be invaluable." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'I shall certainly be there.' the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was on in his house." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say or in danger--" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "That is easily got." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock jewels which you have stolen?' danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about delighted to hear it," he said. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chair. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "I have hopes." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "So I heard. You have him here?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport heavily into it. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "'Where to?' enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. few hundred pounds.' pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." definite end. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the existence." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble is a common subject for conversation. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "We have tried and failed." 1.F. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Then I do not see the point." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back examine." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Where does the thing come from?' approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Married! When?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at discontent upon his features.