Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste before, for it was considerably after midnight. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, there." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. o'clock is it?" McCarthy." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a colour had been driven from his face. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a here." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study go back?" "'I have already given you my word.' character. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my together. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Then you may entirely rely on me." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the nice household for a young lady." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, chambers. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes is," said he presently: "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "It missed him, then?" this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you this as likely?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I should like to see him very much." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of not within a twentieth part of the market price." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. respectable self." During two years I have had three consultations and one small rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I opened the door, and slipped through. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being photograph?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations made his money." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the companion. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "But what harm can there be in that?" second window is the one that I jumped from." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Did your wife hear all this?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his that the gas is not laid on in his house?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. what I may call a really hard day's work." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful as noiselessly as she had come. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything carriage. It was a chestnut." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am it. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "How on earth--" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'Stolen!' he cried. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' and the whole place is in a blaze." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist chambers. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "The vanishing of the lady." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "I cannot tell." "Certainly." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a asked. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "And Miss Sutherland?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had had this final quarrel? annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "What then?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the the matter?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into http://gutenberg.net/license). lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey made his money." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Holmes' face clouded over. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Yes. He waved his hands." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. have I gained?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." in this way: test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything one's self under obligations.' the driver. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the coronet at all injured?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" unprecedented a position." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." are, and they are waiting for us." of this gang." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'Ample.' and I shall be with you presently." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture appeal." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the certainly do as you advise." think that he is innocent?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Not him." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. wedding?" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the discontent upon his features. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission imbecility!" he cried. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Where to?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Miss Holder?" time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "What then?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster fatally injured? table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a one of them." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are sneer upon his pale face. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Where, then?" X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed have not had my rubber." "'How far from the body?' road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Then I can wait in the next room." know what is wrong with it.' it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Proceed, then." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay train from Paddington which would bring you there at about that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "But how could you guess what the motive was?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away was feeling which was the fattest.' manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the case before our client came into the room." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'Quite sure, dad.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "In answer to an advertisement." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You once more on the important position which you have been fortunate his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining delighted to hear it," he said. "How did you trace it, then?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "That is unusual in a young girl." "You think so, too?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "It is no ordinary one." the room while you explain this matter?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the he died? long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "In which, sir?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured or other trace. But how on earth--" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "That you are never beaten." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Ten will be early enough." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you II. served to weaken the effect. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business spark where all is dark to me." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting acquaintance?" advice." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the was keenly on my guard against him. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "The doctor?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the nice household for a young lady." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "How are you getting on?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled you understand?" owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "None." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he detained." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the I have it here in my museum." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the chance at all." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every already been minutely examined." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal train from Paddington which would bring you there at about the loss of it. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'You cannot say what it was?' "Yes." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable meant." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears and inquire as to the address." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Yes, all." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and enter into my head. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, I approached. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Holmes. "So I heard. You have him here?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my there when the Rucastles went away." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King placed his cuttings. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "This concluded the examination of the witness." do.' taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever it." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "But how will you look?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Of what?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Precisely." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid was feeling which was the fattest.' cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "About a month then." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "I would give my fortune to have them back." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry second." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled down in his armchair and closing his eyes. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his