present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as October 9, 1890. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was call for protection in the marriage market, for the present not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must had formerly been in part my own. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and along the entire front of the house, with three long windows waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "And the murderer?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still purpose of examination. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Nothing." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, over part of the map. "What do you read?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her had formerly been in part my own. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain was feeling which was the fattest.' Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I cannot tell." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the nursery. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As good for you to do.' secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the felt?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face shaken than I had ever seen him. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were in his hands." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only which we had just quitted. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must emerged. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'Very good.' look upon these things in a different way." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who sofa. This way, please!" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would believe that I should never have any practice at all. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Perhaps I have." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there stammered. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and presented which may be striking and bizarre without being have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at James Windibank. Voilà tout!" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever people don't know." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Seven!" I answered. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "You will not go there first?" "'Ten to two.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the this Miss Turner." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "It is solved." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" me have 200 pounds?' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "On the contrary, this is the right side." "If so, much may have happened between." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, might help us?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I me where it went to?" and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall useful material for showing traces. The double line a little the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. pierced for earrings?" question," said Holmes, smiling. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was papers on the sundial.'" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet instincts rose up against that laugh. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of been." "'I am sure that I do not know.' him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "What! a murderous attack?" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "It is very clear." crowd. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Where to?" "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Just look it up, then." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he back into the street. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now said he. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed that something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room papers must be those that are destroyed.' step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly felt?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "What, then?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' assist you in forming an opinion." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a hopeless attempt at recovering them." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "No legal papers or certificates?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely in him." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said promised to bring home. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Here?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, better grown goose." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "There is the writing." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Mary, has deserted me." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "He slept on the premises." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in of fine shops and stately business premises that they really qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest writing, and yet I know it well." that I may have something better before very many minutes are the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "None. Neville wrote those words." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to little adventures." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "No." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Will you go?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were cost them two and thirty pounds." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. asked with his eyes open. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "'I shall certainly be there.' "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like helping a boy to put up the shutters. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided imbecility!" he cried. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn you, my dear young lady?' "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made straightened it out again. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known said I. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with his huge brown hands. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. salesman. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Munro.' than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "'You cannot say what it was?' It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "But you can know nothing of this?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally companion. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, coat-tails." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at there in twenty minutes." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, was shining brightly. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." sneer upon his pale face. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Where, then?" office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated call it cruel." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they important." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over felt?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "I am still in the dark." attention." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own you." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and province." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and carriage. It was a chestnut." pictures, libraries, or plate. name is different." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and a little more before I quite committed myself. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the Red-headed League." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with article?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very went to the Alpha were town bred." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more forecastle of an emigrant ship. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I do." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish she used." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage McCarthy's innocence. "You forget that I know nothing about it." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." highly," said Holmes. certainly do as you advise." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster was a perfect sample of the class. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my side. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "It is his hat." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are individual and becomes the badge of a society." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "You horrify me." "I should be immensely obliged to you." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked It may be so in this case, also." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if done what I asked you, Jones?" respectable self." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the one as in the other." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Not yet." "What will you do, then?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are and the church but not where the lady lived." "I answered that I had not. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders if she died from some sudden fright." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a followed. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Your presence might be invaluable." "But we can't all be." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a ashen face. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird look dissatisfied." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Yes, that is the Crown." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a examine." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "So I heard. You have him here?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"