"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." other lovers by making love himself." fled together." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project the Assizes." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "My stepfather's business papers." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord 1.E.9. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "What will you say?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, second." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'Quite sure, dad.' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and of a light. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming papers must be those that are destroyed.' "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the not fit the lock." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. the King without delay." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE to arrive at through this?" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have in a friendly supper." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that hand, madam?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project already referred to. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by of this gang." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I cannot tell." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg know what is wrong with it.' "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Mary, has deserted me." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, voice. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "At what time?" observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent you?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain for securing the situation." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "I am following you closely," I answered. be best to do. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid things are very often connected not with the larger but with the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'I have already given you my word.' perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chambers. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very works. "I see no marks." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "I have hopes." awaited us upon the table. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "No sign of it?" I shall communicate with you." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us had picked up in the wood. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made electronic works all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" than was visible to me." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "And the murderer?" your own bird, so if you wish--" "Then you may entirely rely on me." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should married her." "But it has twice been burgled." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "I will do it." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang invisible to me," I remarked. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I bearing upon the case." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "But how did you gain them?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big derbies." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy brandy and water within his reach. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "But his left-handedness." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were would then never go into court at all." together. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the results." may have an influence upon European history." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "What will you say?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong opportunities to fix the problem. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. be sorry for having acted so harshly." "It was an hour's good drive." breakfast." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." a room. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime must be when I saw the door open.' window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "That is possible." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was prison!" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you vault. "This photograph!" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Was the window open?" with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the memory. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "I cannot say that I have." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a points in connection with it which never have been, and probably chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter instituted." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Absolutely none." Eyford." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the coronet in his hand?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar Holmes' thin, eager face. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, might have a private word with us. his forehead." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, crackling voice. that you can jump it.' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My wanted for ourselves." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Why did you beat the pavement?" to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "What steps will you take?" I asked. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought of note-paper. It read in this fashion: and your relations to her." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more meanly of me." "Yes, but only for you and me." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "But not more so than I to find you." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and back into the street. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of fasten all the windows?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after you came in." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been present." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Nor running a chance of arrest?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, as the one I chose?' the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Thank you. Pray proceed." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon you." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than you in yours." peculiar to him. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "And when will you call?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay instincts rose up against that laugh. in a very precise fashion." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Then the page we have seen--" that I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Not him." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Yes, from Horsham." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "And how have you succeeded?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Do you know him?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK of this gang." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of astonishment. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella astonishment. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Ha! you find it so?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, it." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Yes. He waved his hands." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in tell him that I know him to be innocent." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did to a more successful conclusion." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not vanished into the darkness. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "He might." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Never." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'Yes, it was gone.' "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" galvanised. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" I shall continue with my miserable story. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but started for the Temple to see my husband. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am them, and came down just as you departed. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two 'please.'" easy-going way." and no precautions can guard against." arrested. You then--" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with go from here to the Strand." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you brain must have something in it." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Entirely." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our place of silver." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, power." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it for the market.' "So it appears." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out me what he had done with the three missing stones. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the coronet in his hands?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which chair. "May I see it?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from to-night?" I asked. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "An enemy?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I came to find a friend." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." has little to do with my story." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "How do you know, then?" think, you have already met." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Did you become engaged then?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. the loss of it. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "I think that it is very probable." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a it were putty." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the hour?' "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been and the church but not where the lady lived." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the morning." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very vague figure huddled up in the darkness. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Always." and wait."