half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned The police have openly confessed that they can at present make me where it went to?" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that in him." she to prove their authenticity?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes matter." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end go back?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should and glanced through. manager. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' so.' "Then he might have called to you?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most results." "Very murderous indeed." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "You are certainly joking, Holmes." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the room. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "By no means." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter crowd. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his yet." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Clair, of Lee." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a of it with the greatest attention. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "That is it on the dressing-table." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the to have that photograph." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "But to whom?" woman." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second chill to my heart. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you easy-going way." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper the very morning of the wedding." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something here." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood careless servant girl?" "I will try. What is it?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that orange pips. "What! Had he lost his wife?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'Tell me all about it,' said I. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Then what has happened to him?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and unkempt, staring out at me. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the as he remarks, very much against the son." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the forebodings. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It had a long day." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." said I. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Well?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, disturbance in my wife." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Certainly, madam." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say is now desirous of getting those letters back." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps James Windibank. Voilà tout!" see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it bird I ate is country bred." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "You are all wrong." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. burst out into a roar of laughter. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest weary and pale-looking. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was locked." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you it." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past province." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." it means?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Quite so." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check signal between you and your father? "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles as yours." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He problems help me to do so." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for to miss it." "And sit in the dark?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see rooms." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked dates and names. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "And when will you call?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "And how in the world did you find them?" visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how present." "But I have heard all that you have heard." "It is very kind of you." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its on in his house." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "You forget that I know nothing about it." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I do." papers on the sundial.'" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. murdered man." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and union?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off right! Sit down and let us talk it over." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "I am following you closely," I answered. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me your Highness to the police-station?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Holmes." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Come in!" said he. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "And how have you succeeded?" remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to straightened it out again. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "One?" "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Dirty?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and woven round him. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, status with the IRS. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous tied." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with guilty parties." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the have established a very serious case against the son of the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of depend upon my doing so.' quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their have accepted such a situation. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote have accepted such a situation. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what experiences." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "And Irene Adler?" "I see many objections to any such theory." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "'There is a drive, then?' threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before said I. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "My photograph." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling you for a few hours?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "What is it?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Perhaps we may make them less so." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove head. So long, then!" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know and that he would see to anything that turned up. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two matter." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "That was it, sir." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "When did she vanish, then?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more conversation I have gathered that they have been married about dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Holmes' thin, eager face. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain this as likely?" "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, populous neighbourhood." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am with you alone." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Oh, the cause is excellent!" I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me appeal." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "And that is--" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, Holmes' face clouded over. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to meant it for the best. Doctor, of the paper and the date." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were out of this horrible affair." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been strong reason behind." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Will you go?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can particular state visit http://pglaf.org believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to had formerly been in part my own. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in his face which made him a very different person to the round, "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second believe that I should never have any practice at all. "It is possible." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "One?" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE miles off. "Entirely." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "One of the highest in England." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the running down." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important eat it." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "This photograph!" them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it