behind me. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "You have carte blanche." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could strength." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of here and I will read it to you: Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "What! a murderous attack?" possible that we could bring him back to her? "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, a good hundred miles off by now." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Yes." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the said he. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the fishes. presented more singular features than that which was associated through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "My dear Holmes!" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to less than 26s. 4d. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be a suggestive one." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from clang of the bell. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in and I shall be with you presently." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. a little more before I quite committed myself. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, it. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for be sorry for having acted so harshly." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "I think that it is very probable." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was you." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "And Irene Adler?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as is," said he presently: ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "And how did you verify them?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his criminal. We have already had experience of such." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "In which, sir?" and inquire as to the address." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "And your father? Did you tell him?" formed some opinion?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Two days later this same performance was gone through under again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out coat-tails." late." "But not more so than I to find you." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not best detective that ever lived. people don't know." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Bought." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Is he quiet?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture conversation I have gathered that they have been married about this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "By train from Waterloo." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Seven!" I answered. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest mystery may be cleared along those lines." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, views." official police." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm garden below. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" not fit the lock." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "But what is it you wish?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "None." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "The Coroner: What do you mean? suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the throat." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's question. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I should be immensely obliged to you." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, so far?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. and all of them with the keenest interest. which it had come upon my father." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was front of the hall door has given its name to the place. the coronet in his hand?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant into the bag, and made for the door. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. to have been novel and of interest." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was and a shock of very red hair. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe on in his house." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was useful material for showing traces. The double line a little world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my at my own good fortune. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you crackling voice. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from where we are going." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you how narrow had been my escape. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner prison!" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Have you her photograph?" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful outbreak?" think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." enough to aid us in our search." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "And why?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "None." pressing in one house as in another. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Quite so. She has her freedom." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of should be so warm over such a trifle." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money I think that I could be of assistance to you." "No, finished." "On the contrary, this is the right side." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the becomes even more simple." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, happened." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat forbidden door. stalked out of the room. "'What, the red-headed man?' forebodings. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. ventilator." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I was sure that I might rely on you." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Heh?' It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled The telegram which we eventually received came late one night have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I it means?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "No good news?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over unclasping of his long thin hands. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no sentimental considerations in the background which would induce I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait residence of the great financier. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned in a very precise fashion." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether I nodded again. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong not, dad?" she asked. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." like gravel from a pit.' no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a knowledge of the world." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for a room. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone closely." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never ceremony." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "What then?" of receipt of the work. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "It must be recovered." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the it." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at not as remarkable as your advertisement." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk to surprise her." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," girl said." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of at my remark. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'Certainly,' I answered. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet the best of training." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now nothing with him." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when promised to bring home. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to questionable one." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" politicians who had been sent down from the North. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Farm upon the left." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are bed dies. Does not that strike you?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have hereditary King of Bohemia." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "What will you do, then?" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own better grown goose." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Foundation minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to upon an income of about 60 pounds." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "I warn you that they are very incomplete." six. Come in!" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a any." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to posted to-day." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark pressing in one house as in another. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his conceal it?" a suggestive one." "My opinion is in no way altered." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'Why that?' I asks. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,'