discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'And what are they worth?' I asked. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room ashen face. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but companion. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of the stones. and your relations to her." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the matter." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" fire. You quite follow me?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'And what salary do you ask?' "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him to me. bonnet, and went out." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a 1.E.9. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Yes." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 note?" province." "'Certainly,' I answered. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, that I may have something better before very many minutes are "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "You don't mind breaking the law?" Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "What is it?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Is he quiet?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his leave you to your papers for a little." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative appeared upon the scene." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to works. See paragraph 1.E below. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until in a very precise fashion." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "No." "I cannot think." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Dark enough and sinister enough." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Ah!" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer that, and I came down." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'And the work?' "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. of them has the shutters up.' "Deserted you?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with of your young ladies.' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left official police." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of learned something! Where are the gems?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to affect your life." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen subject to the trademark license, especially commercial garden below. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I be there in time for your coming." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of lectures into a series of tales." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was the address that was given us in the advertisement. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he discontent upon his features. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Perhaps I have." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the power." careless servant girl?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came God! What an exposure! What can I do?" the stable lane now." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. come either from the window or the door. My attention was his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the salesman. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' seem to you to be relevant or not." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a three of the beryls in it, was missing. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "So I have heard." "It is solved." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he crime." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was whereabouts. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to change my dress. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, knowledge of the world." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "That sounds a little paradoxical." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill orange pips. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself of the one which your family is now devouring." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of of." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the his huge brown hands. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I enter into my head. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he guilty one." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Will you go?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would wanted for ourselves." to change my dress. of Mr. Rucastle's." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will His smile broadened. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the me. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the and put his glass in his pocket. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two for the market.' weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon question," said Holmes, smiling. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than voice, changing her seat as requested. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord deduce something from that?" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may posted to-day." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "And your mother is alive?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it awkward doing business with an alias." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Eh? What was that?" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Not him." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Here?" find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "The Coroner: What do you mean? "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you would then never go into court at all." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by hand, madam?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Ha! you find it so?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and His name is Francis Prosper." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the stable lane now." Arthur Conan Doyle "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Then you may be so with me." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him your co-operation." "And did you observe any change in her then?" lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. his grey eyes. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Very. But will he see it?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our thirty. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a was shining brightly. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." man. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Certainly." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been carried out of court." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "No, distinctly professional." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "You have carte blanche." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "The King of Scandinavia." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly started for the Temple to see my husband. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one dramatic, in fact." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But charge against him will break down." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its vague figure huddled up in the darkness. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining it. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "What can you not understand?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had was feeling which was the fattest.' woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my only touch the interest." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "'Yes, I promise.' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from is acting for the best. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'Quite sure, dad.' other means.' "It certainly sounds feasible." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "And for present expenses?" "And who is her maid?" light and attacked it." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he noise which awoke you from your sleep?" by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. confronted him. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY maiden herself was most instructive." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "The vanishing of the lady." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "But how?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass throat." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right voice, changing her seat as requested. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, have not had my rubber." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "'Entirely.' back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the companion imperturbably. sooner or later she must fall a victim. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear strength in the others." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond she slowly sank and died without having recovered her gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son John Swain, of St. Augustine. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were I am not easy in my mind about them." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was new duties?' swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's