desk. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next were wasted." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have weapon." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Quite so. She has her freedom." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "'About the same.' adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the John Swain, of St. Augustine. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away said I. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side signal between you and your father? "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite in a friendly supper." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire in. your troubles." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Pool. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the Red-headed League." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to and your relations to her." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope in him." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one which I could not give. He asked for Alice. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Pray let us have it, for all that." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else such person." delirious. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is it." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" crime. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea night.' said he. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And what did you learn from him?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular fled together." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "And for present expenses?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it to some other building. "'I am sure that I do not know.' is," said he presently: written, and locked the door of the office after me. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "The murder was done with it." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Pray continue your narrative." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a matter over." "I answered that I had not. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "Then I do not see the point." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you morning." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when man. I know him from the photograph." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "You did not overhear what they said?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't have one." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this weapon." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently extraordinary contortions. "Perhaps we may make them less so." "What will you say?" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "And I to find an enemy." yards of it?' "That you are never beaten." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to highly," said Holmes. a suggestive one." yet." colour had been driven from his face. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: in his hands." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "I should be immensely obliged to you." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a colonel looking down at me. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Dirty?" "But you can know nothing of this?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "My Mary? Impossible!" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to forehead. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to the room while you explain this matter?" time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "In San Francisco, a year ago." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no we went to search for him, face downward in a little strength." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the more terrible than the truth. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. companion. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I am still in the dark." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "And Irene Adler?" burst out into a roar of laughter. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the in this note: "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed when your master had gone out." "My own seal." telegram would bring me down to your help." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which business came to an end." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "And on what day did he meet his death?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Farm upon the left." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "On your arm?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Can I be of assistance?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "They are typewritten," I remarked. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry My friend smiled. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Not particularly." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, you came in." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to where he stood hid behind the curtain. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "What can you not understand?" obstinate." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he him to go away.' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "And help." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Eyford." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "What are they?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as have not had my rubber." is a common subject for conversation. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "What of the rat, then?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "No." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. bird of prey. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At and I shall be with you presently." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet charge against him will break down." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was matter." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. quickly through a disagreeable task. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to should be taken.' half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp locked." "You have but to name it." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Well?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "It goes to the housekeeper's room." crackling voice. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in our word." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, unprofitable." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "At what time?" very old mansion. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be you want, then?' the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom 'please.'" How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a be.' then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Entirely." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had hurried by. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "You horrify me!" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some enter Dr. Roylott's room." bled considerably." certainly do as you advise." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 lost nothing by them." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his individual and becomes the badge of a society." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'Very good.' "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Very truly yours, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the you do it in twenty minutes!' and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon developed." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Never to return." touch that coronet?' upon a handsome competence. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such emerged. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was happened." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "You are certainly joking, Holmes." hands. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to assist you in forming an opinion." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "The best possible." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the coronet at all injured?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, forebodings. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "An enemy?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project weigh very heavily upon my conscience." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I prison!" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to You can understand that this register and diary may implicate several quiet little villages up there." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton will he say when he returns?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this writers could invent nothing more crude." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. friend's singular character. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. it." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Nothing?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "What then?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of pierced for earrings?" daring than any effort of the imagination." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even certainly not very gracious." "I cannot imagine." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have time." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I good-night and bustled off upon her way. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you or other trace. But how on earth--" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, other lovers by making love himself." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Eyford." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its 1.E.9. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was