later, upon the night of May 2nd." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "What have you to say now?" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, your billet.' was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Your French gold?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms from the brougham. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "I have seen the police." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near returning from some small jollification and was making his way astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the despair." room?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so disappearance of these gems?" out." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "He might." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his next day. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "What! You do not mean bodies?" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the coronet at all injured?" the coronet at all injured?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even hour?' the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was is a common subject for conversation. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "But he might be a bachelor." row." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" I was concerned in it." depend upon my doing so.' whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may cost them two and thirty pounds." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "I should like to see him very much." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do standing smiling on the door-step. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of that I can to serve you." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. it were putty." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "How can you tell that?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the brandy and water within his reach. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a possible that we could bring him back to her? interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, house for five minutes.' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Why? What do you mean?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving redistribution. "None." writing, and yet I know it well." the King without delay." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, particular state visit http://pglaf.org few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Then, as to money?" get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from hard-headed British jury." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his behind me. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was been deceived." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I conduct the inquiry." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one past. "Was there a secret marriage?" Have you good authority for what you say?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, upon a handsome competence. the best of training." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Your French gold?" "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most upon the shelf for the interim." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Which are?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "And Irene Adler?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. hardly wander." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "None." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched wanted for ourselves." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "One?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and generous with you in money matters.' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own It was close upon four before the door opened, and a believe that I should never have any practice at all. green of the new foliage. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. name is different." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "But you were on a friendly footing?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, if I call to-morrow?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "BALLARAT." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night wedding?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to eavesdroppers?' to have been novel and of interest." green of the new foliage. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no know that the truth is known." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "I know where it is." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, have I gained?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the so-precious time, but come!' There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "You did not overhear what they said?" suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The But Holmes shook his head gravely. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those already referred to. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." a room. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect The summons was a brief and urgent one. "But his left-handedness." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "My dear Holmes!" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Oh, yes, easily." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I to arrive at through this?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it again on its way. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK open." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered careless servant girl?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the to miss it." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. closing the door. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "It is very kind of you." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Young McCarthy must be got off, however." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with been deceived." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "'There is a drive, then?' persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other few hundred pounds.' the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" highly," said Holmes. "I cannot tell." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from details." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Then what has happened to him?" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "I think that it is very probable." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Oh, fresh and glossy." "But of what society?" His name is Francis Prosper." wife's character?" For additional contact information: accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "And how did you verify them?" yards of it?' "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your foresight and the moral retrogression?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I have solved it." populous neighbourhood." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I and no precautions can guard against." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Then what has happened to him?" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "So I heard. You have him here?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "In the cells." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, gone. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? roused himself from his reverie. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "By no means." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think shadow pass over his face as I spoke. galvanised. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual make me his representative both with the servants and with the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need prepare for the new role I have to play." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to room. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with I held the little printed slip to the light. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "How often?" your bag." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing have one." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a works. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you less than 26s. 4d. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name me have 200 pounds?' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the dangers which encompass me." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held was it brought him the coronet? assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's 1.F. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." hair?' The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever there in twenty minutes." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and you?' dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "A client, then?" threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be better in every way that they should make their position a little "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." which it had come upon my father." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between said he. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "You'll never persuade me to believe that." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing have got?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler been able to understand it, in a very few words. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was then?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias http://www.gutenberg.net 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "No, but the enclosure is." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not trifles." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. go--none." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed distinguish the words: I nodded to show that I had heard. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out papers on the sundial.'" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. whereabouts. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" chair. fear." think you a quite exceptional woman."