into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the fact, we may call it conclusive." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her asked with his eyes open. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly felt?" "10th. John Swain cleared. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But pierced for earrings?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had make me his representative both with the servants and with the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. your sleep?' never came back." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated washing it down with a long draught of water. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from said he at last. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Foundation a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "By no means." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed never will be, entirely cleared up. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "I will get her to show me." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Perhaps I have." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "My stepfather's business papers." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King all that?" train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just beg that you will break it off." companion. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I answered that I had not. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward death." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, ready to-morrow?' "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I occurred." could gather together that I was able to avert another public Dr. Gregory B. Newby this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Heh?' old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "He is dead," cried several voices. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed own family. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Nothing." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." them?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will could gather together that I was able to avert another public gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually whole matter to your consideration." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the sparkled upon his finger. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "It is very kind of you." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." it." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most yards of it?' the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen were new raised from a basin. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that October 9, 1890. with you?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Seven!" I answered. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, breakfast." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Get out!" said he. "In what way?" asked Holmes. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "No, but the enclosure is." sound at heart." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the photograph a cabinet?" whole matter to your consideration." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to promised to bring home. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your question," said Holmes, smiling. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "His face fell immediately. never to learn it at all." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? I am not easy in my mind about them." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my and effective." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By there!' "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it stalked out of the room. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the chambers. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very London for the present?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the any." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child just called myself is not exactly my own." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion ventilator." "Not him." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his helping a boy to put up the shutters. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! client, rising. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I beg that you will break it off." and inquire as to the address." matters immensely." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "I guessed as much." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Not in the least." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless on in his house." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the friends, not even his own brother. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "You horrify me!" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Witness: It was. guilty parties." "In what way?" asked Holmes. been deceived." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every suddenly upon us." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we envelope. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this brought there to personate someone, and the real person is character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Yes." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' strange features which were associated with the two crimes which chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Sutherland. husband's writing, madam." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." you in yours." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "By all means." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be experiences." good for you to do.' "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The to have that photograph." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should who was a member of your goose club." "Yesterday." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "What!" he roared. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their writers could invent nothing more crude." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil the general public were present, then?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, showing my impatience. "Was he the only applicant?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Two days later this same performance was gone through under purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "What have you to say now?" not come at once?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for ways of our fellow-men." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I fear." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. Sutherland. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Yes." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal present." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "How did he come?" "You horrify me." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were sit on the left-hand side of the driver." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All your own bird, so if you wish--" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Pray tell us what has happened to you." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport arrangements." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "What! Had he lost his wife?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "And what did you learn from him?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I his eyes and forehead. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." to tell." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know there was no need for father to know." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "How can you tell that?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Very truly yours, should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was you do it in twenty minutes!' his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "And I say east," said my patient. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without some water from a caraffe. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who call for it in person on Monday morning.' little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Where is it, then?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most the child." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." if she died from some sudden fright." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it second." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "But what harm can there be in that?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy already been minutely examined." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes giving me time to thank him. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "What of the rat, then?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting 'please.'" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and tell him that I know him to be innocent." and looked back. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "By train from Waterloo." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "'It is locked up,' I answered. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her tail." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous and it need not interfere very much with one's other "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with and a shock of very red hair. "In the cells." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "And that is--" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Pray continue your narrative." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple vanished into the darkness. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Of what?" were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough remarked. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white completely overtopped every other consideration that we both fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the the room while you explain this matter?" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that as he folded up the epistle. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally me. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over never came back." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he nonsense.' a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 suggested at once that there must be a communication between the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,"