"Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an to talk it over. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the there has been an enclosure here!" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is prepare for the new role I have to play." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey house for five minutes.' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "And now?" I asked. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as any more." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my hereditary King of Bohemia." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather rooms." "None. Neville wrote those words." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open advice." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of awaited us upon the table. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn advice." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of II. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off ran thus: The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "None." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "So I am. Very much so." "Where, indeed?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which that he will be back before evening." "In the cells." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into This is what he says: the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Yes." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "What have you to say now?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his few hundred pounds.' you do it in twenty minutes!' printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "So it appears." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." showing my impatience. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked works. See paragraph 1.E below. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his closing the door. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Well, it is a possible supposition." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "The best possible." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Very much so." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the companion quietly. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where a monotonous occupation." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her ready to-morrow?' from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram seen the man in the road." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched chambers. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still with her." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had that you can jump it.' something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where been lifted and conveyed somewhere." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and our word." one which it was hard to resist. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not that note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which garden below. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when gigantic client. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name an introduction to him?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "What!" he roared. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an a suggestive one." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. Sholtos." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Yes." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "No, finished." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me the King without delay." "At what time?" "The murder was done with it." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, the window, rose as we entered. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into shall not find me ungrateful." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your very morning of my second wedding." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers recover the gem." crime. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be question you as to those details which seem to me to be most stalked out of the room. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "No?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One of his shoulders. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not if only as a check to my own memory." "'Yes, it was gone.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take trifles." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Sholtos." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "At the wedding breakfast." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "I cannot think." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I think it very unlikely." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." outsides of the windows. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low from the brougham. "What will you do, then?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord were unconscious?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in excitement. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Street. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton are, I think, all that we need." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us not as remarkable as your advertisement." in the hope of finding them." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." better grown goose." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Yesterday." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "He disappeared so suddenly." "I am in hopes that she does." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms constraint." conceal it?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a chance." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, there in twenty minutes." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as throat." the stones. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'No, I know no one in these parts.' be best to do. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear business." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "And what then?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. individual and becomes the badge of a society." "My dear Holmes!" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the to talk it over. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification minor matters until to-morrow." fluttered off among the others. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial time." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Why, what do you mean?" about. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all really the only notable feature about the thing." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to go back?" "His face fell immediately. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "It was an hour's good drive." friend's singular character. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman brandy and water within his reach. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. off." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the iron safe, which he closed upon it. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "My stepfather's business papers." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and sake, don't!" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. your billet.' "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Project Gutenberg-tm works. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to upon the sideboard." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. a little more before I quite committed myself. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both you." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Ah!" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" confronted him. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted legal crime." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "BALLARAT." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "'You cannot say what it was?' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of to-night?" I asked. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have long narrative. "'Entirely.' individual and becomes the badge of a society." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Oh, fresh and glossy." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It bears upon the case?" and have this put in the evening papers." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE posted to-day." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, taking in every detail of the apartment. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." narrative." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained do.' "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. suddenly upon us." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Yes, from Horsham." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' compunction about shooting them down." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to name is different." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. side. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a locked. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I to-night's adventure." were wasted." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long rat could hardly pass through." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as to have been novel and of interest." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all compunction about shooting them down." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a meant it for the best. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked I nodded again. better grown goose." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast without success. At last the little money which I had saved began know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul other means.' common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she emerged. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "And from a noble client?" cost them two and thirty pounds." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."