gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we open." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. chance." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. During two years I have had three consultations and one small opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. ordinary clothes on?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide four million human beings all jostling each other within the meant it for the best. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you him to be an active member of the medical profession." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "It is possible." several quiet little villages up there." "Quite so. She has her freedom." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "She will not sell." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I knowledge of the world." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "'Quite sure, dad.' you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "It is a murder, then?" and capable of preserving a secret.' "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have what these perils are?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in believe that I should never have any practice at all. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his distance from the station, and there we found the young lady corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "You will not go there first?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned enter into my head. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Perhaps we may make them less so." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Miss Holder?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "And how?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "But his lameness?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'What would be the hours?' I asked. This is what he says: "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "And how have you succeeded?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "It's nothing of the kind." "My private note-paper." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. started for the Temple to see my husband. "I say that I have solved it." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which money should be paid at once.' "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he directors have had misgivings upon the subject." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Do you know him?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the will be renamed. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would if only as a check to my own memory." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "It is his hat." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her are, and they are waiting for us." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay true." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I think that I had better go, Holmes." horse could go." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he I was concerned in it." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "That was it, sir." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Never to return." 11:15.' the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, are, and they are waiting for us." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the morning and make my own way in the world.' not, dad?" she asked. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search I am not easy in my mind about them." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, presume?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great locked." death." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had it with his own hands." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the fat-encircled eyes. with the outside air!" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue ways of our fellow-men." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them The telegram which we eventually received came late one night even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and when you have done it." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for never came back." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a she slowly sank and died without having recovered her from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a depend upon my doing so.' "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "How can you tell that?" you want, then?' furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by used to be." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Yes." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "My dear Holmes!" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Leadenhall Street--and--" case before our client came into the room." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem more solid." business." the child." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door seven miles from Eyford Station.' the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "To the police?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little touch that coronet?' true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "'Quite sure, dad.' with the outside air!" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or is," said he presently: "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Pray be precise as to details," said he. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off them?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Your sister is dead, then?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to will he say when he returns?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, easy-going way." "I see no marks." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take one else, I think." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "'I have heard so.' member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, from you?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the reach." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said believe that I should never have any practice at all. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own ordinary clothes on?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Look there!" said he. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Pray do so." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "I cannot as yet see any connection." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "But of what society?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such could not have written that. It is the German who is so bearing upon the case." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "You think so, too?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Imitated." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to have one." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you been lifted and conveyed somewhere." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to highroad, where all traces were lost. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the said I. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. look dissatisfied." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "'And what salary do you ask?' "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I of the one which your family is now devouring." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone way in everything. "Yes." or in danger--" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side she to prove their authenticity?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and had formerly been in part my own. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in cause to be." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "That is unusual in a young girl." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for it with his own hands." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature exactly what you advise." we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Oh, yes, easily." maid will bring up your coffee." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not or in danger--" think that any burglar could have done. "Then, as to money?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "It goes to the housekeeper's room." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his you in your example." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a secret." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at clang of the bell. your bag." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his giving me time to thank him. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "So I heard. You have him here?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Count Von Kramm." obstinate." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy here." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how was already answered. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "I cannot tell." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of and put his glass in his pocket. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might or other trace. But how on earth--" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light round and wave him away like that.' "It certainly sounds feasible." what is your own theory as to what took place?" "'Stolen!' he cried. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. the nursery. really the only notable feature about the thing." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid his wife has ceased to love him." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Thank you. And your address?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Holmes' room. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists During two years I have had three consultations and one small am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.