same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which followed. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three to have that photograph." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "The gentleman I describe." mysterious end." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most noting anything else of interest. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a speckled band?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand leave you to your papers for a little." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of distinguish the words: chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend companion quietly. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "That also I could fathom." beg that you will break it off." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "No, thank goodness, she did not." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have be.' in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "It was a confession," I ejaculated. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six question you as to those details which seem to me to be most confronted him. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." which are rolled in Rotterdam." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "And help." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. nothing with him." the best of training." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that quickly through a disagreeable task. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger secret." look dissatisfied." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I shall use the carriage to-night." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, of this gang." a monotonous occupation." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "She told me to ask you." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "9th. McCauley cleared. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get touch that coronet?' second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my go--none." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New meanly of me." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the over here." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is of receipt of the work. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a manager. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need affair. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Now, then, what's the last entry?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice the matter." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her main points of my analysis." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Pope's Court. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there suddenly upon us." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after meant it for the best. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned six. Come in!" Sutherland?" "Yes?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger official police." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my occurred." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Upon what point?" of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other than was visible to me." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Which are?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." words came to my lips. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was will be renamed. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with would then never go into court at all." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "He said that you could solve anything." "It is half-past ten now." "Not yet." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a best detective that ever lived. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "I cannot say that I have." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every money should be paid at once.' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked notes," he said. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Not him." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow wedding?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" unprofitable." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Yes, at the mines." in a very precise fashion." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with carpenter." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Have you it here?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." not as remarkable as your advertisement." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to golden eyeglasses. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, wanted for ourselves." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his empty. "This concluded the examination of the witness." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of hereditary King of Bohemia." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I was certainly surprised to find you there." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as 'I should be able to look after that for you.' that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "None." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking papers must be those that are destroyed.' laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no lectures into a series of tales." Heh?' family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They the tragedy. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." friend's singular character. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Bought." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a at home. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right notes," he said. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Of what day?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it of." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "What is it?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Why? What do you mean?" returned to France?" in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the It may be so in this case, also." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless to have been novel and of interest." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his this man was intellectual?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much you came in." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their for the market.' "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" prisoner's face. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Not social, then?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one pound a week." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her results." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." quite distinctive." pictures, libraries, or plate. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "I was mad--insane." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a mystery." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Never." go from here to the Strand." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "He might." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "The Cedars?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'Yes.' gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and newspaper selections." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "My own seal." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might then?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat populous neighbourhood." "Why, what do you mean?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the that he has suffered." opened the door, and slipped through. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one to a more successful conclusion." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. the tragedy. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little conversation I have gathered that they have been married about introspective fashion. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Of what day?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end extraordinary contortions. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Henry Baker is a member." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. tail." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Yes, that is the Crown." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. wedding?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Never." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed again on its way. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, eat it." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." you give your casting vote to?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew discontent upon his features. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I I have it here in my museum." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of ago." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked details." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "There is the writing." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is disturbance in my wife." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "And why?" weighed down with some great anxiety. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "And on what day did he meet his death?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "But I am all in the dark." "And for present expenses?" disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may God! What an exposure! What can I do?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what depend upon my doing so.'