as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "And what then?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "On the contrary, this is the right side." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I am all attention, madam." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and ran thus: and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I know where it is." "From his hat?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Certainly." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" mysterious business." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Dirty?" the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "And you don't know his address?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "That also I could fathom." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "And how did you find out?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Yes." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a to tackle the facts." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the companion quietly. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. at once, for I have only half an hour." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "What office?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, that there was nothing in it, after all." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but closing the door. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Not I." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Where does the thing come from?' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been roused himself from his reverie. like gravel from a pit.' London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." article?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Certainly, madam." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose do.' out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could comes from the middle window." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and just ask you whether you had heard it.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "And now?" I asked. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Of what day?" himself to tell his story. "It is solved." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. you do it in twenty minutes!' detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention long narrative. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was heavily into it. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. already referred to. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the roots. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and correct than the official force." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "It surprised me." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Then he might have called to you?" however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an helping a boy to put up the shutters. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was in him." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of plantation.' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side that I am arrested." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but chemical work which was so dear to him. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to recover the gem." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "And what then?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope woven round him. remarked. directors, with the result that you have seen." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted forehead. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his tell them apart.' McCarthy." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would to tell." to a light-house. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely indeed which he could not unravel. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that have got?" desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Holmes, the busybody!" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "If so, much may have happened between." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "On Monday." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a opportunities to fix the problem. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Then I shall certainly come." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," The events in question occurred in the early days of my room. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through here." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes introspective fashion. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk seem to you to be relevant or not." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Ah!" "The Coroner: What do you mean? someone who had been in Australia." works. See paragraph 1.E below. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a London for the present?" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in brought there to personate someone, and the real person is The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If followed. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite morning." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the persecution?" in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Nothing." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. a room. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "I cannot say that I have." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the matter." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. a room. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Chief Executive and Director "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "No, I had a dozen." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle straightened it out again. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I any more." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, how narrow had been my escape. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so society." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Pope's Court, Fleet Street." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "What of the rat, then?" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence had picked up in the wood. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who she slowly sank and died without having recovered her had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his address. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "Absolutely none." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has wedding?" pressing in one house as in another. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Doctor, of the paper and the date." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Certainly." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see death." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it fire. You quite follow me?" main points of my analysis." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the opportunities to fix the problem. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little very morning of my second wedding." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Entirely." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Nothing?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit closely." to a more successful conclusion." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "No." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' what these perils are?" "And you can do nothing until then?" "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "You'll never persuade me to believe that." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "'Never,' said I. "Yes, sir." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "I cannot tell." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, to-night's adventure." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of this gang." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this past. "You horrify me!" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for and the church but not where the lady lived." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief not within a twentieth part of the market price." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it knowledge of the world." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it night.' said he. "And did you observe any change in her then?" "You are hungry," I remarked. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. His name is Francis Prosper." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY astonishment. "You horrify me!" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Seven!" I answered. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give there in twenty minutes." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "What!" he roared. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. a suggestive one." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "I see many objections to any such theory." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "'What do you call purely nominal?' however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "It is possible." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Nor running a chance of arrest?" the ceiling. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the coronet in his hand?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Yes." persecution?" truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "How did you trace it, then?" but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "No more words. Get out!" I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on frequently gained my first real insight into the character of bears upon the case?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "This concluded the examination of the witness." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." not come at once?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "It must be recovered." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Serpentine Avenue. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you fish-monger and a tide-waiter." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Indeed! Whose, then?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "What are they?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.