vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Lestrade of Scotland Yard." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Very much so." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet me have 200 pounds?' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover one else, I think." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" look upon these things in a different way." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "My dear Holmes!" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold to me. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, you do it in twenty minutes!' maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly three of the beryls in it, was missing. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora voice. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH directors, with the result that you have seen." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. page at http://pglaf.org All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot away into the river." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "I don't believe it." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Pray do so." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." despaired of." ventilator." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced never came back." and inquire as to the address." approach us with offers to donate. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." village inn over there?" neither fascinating nor artistic." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'There is a drive, then?' "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Then how many are there?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was such attractions and accomplishments?' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." nothing of it?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just straighten it?" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "I cannot imagine." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could guilty one." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I some city in a dream. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the mysterious business." forbidden door. "How do you know, then?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; front of me. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of easy-going way." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "But you can know nothing of this?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "A greater distance to travel." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his seem to you to be relevant or not." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new strength in the others." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "No, finished." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to kind enough to tell me what I should do." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "'Oh, no.' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers yards of it?' he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. compunction about shooting them down." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of official police." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and bare slabs of marble. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of woven round him. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I several quiet little villages up there." happened." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Certainly." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Her father is very rich?" "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Married! When?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one never to learn it at all." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt crime." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical ago." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a to a light-house. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "No good news?" would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just threw himself down with his face to the pillow. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every one of them." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "I never have." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he not personally threatened." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be business at Coburg Square is serious." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have gbnewby@pglaf.org "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door married her." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and in this way: a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of golden eyeglasses. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I at my remark. the loss of it. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute with her." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "None." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in with some details as to your case." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned which we had just quitted. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." exactly what you advise." "Texas, I think." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under said he. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, kindly on the shoulder. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to Watson," he said cordially. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have said he at last. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. mystery may be cleared along those lines." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Then I can wait in the next room." the one as in the other." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "The landlord of the Alpha." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock entirely lost his self-respect." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her call it cruel." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "In answer to an advertisement." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. when you have done it." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Because he was handy and would come cheap." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I definite end. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "That is possible." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another tassel actually lying upon the pillow. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong upon an income of about 60 pounds." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at hair?' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." interests were the same as his." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most the iron safe, which he closed upon it. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has heavy and sharp instrument." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery of the way of danger. which are rolled in Rotterdam." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the of the way of danger. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I people don't know." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at think that any burglar could have done. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." putting in the horse. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery power." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "It is his hat." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are James Windibank. Voilà tout!" truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible problems help me to do so." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Street. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it a room. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell coroner's jury." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'What would be the hours?' I asked. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who too. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in I leave." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "I shall be delighted." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." have accepted such a situation. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," one which it was hard to resist. served to weaken the effect. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and said I. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most of campaign. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a so far?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he