"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "The landlord of the Alpha." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but all?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Nothing." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated acted in my house last night?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of notes," he said. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "It is possible." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be horse could go." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then meant." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? several quiet little villages up there." bonnet, and went out." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Then, how do you know?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "And is that all?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A populous neighbourhood." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the most interesting one." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" you give your casting vote to?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until characteristics, but those are the more obvious." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Ah, but I was recommended to you." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so pressing in one house as in another. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know you found me to-night--and running through the front room she misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am as this. Pray let me have the details." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we figure." "'Yes, sir.' "'There is a drive, then?' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes guilty one." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge hour?' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the second window is the one that I jumped from." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "My last client of the sort was a king." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "How did he come?" disappearance of the bride.'" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Yes. He waved his hands." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the whole matter to your consideration." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Yes." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "No." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the to Leatherhead. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a dramatic, in fact." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "He slept on the premises." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "You are all wrong." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman even so self-evident a thing as that." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he through." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The what is your own theory as to what took place?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his I nodded to show that I had heard. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single could not account in any way for the presence of the missing that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "Thank you. Pray proceed." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "It surprised me." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. touch that coronet?' certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. over part of the map. "What do you read?" "I am following you closely," I answered. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "'About the same.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a had picked up in the wood. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman been shamefully used." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried to go into your room and bar your shutters?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune matters immensely." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." some city in a dream. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, with her." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has companion. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "We must have a cab." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer drove away. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "And I say east," said my patient. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her may never be exposed to such a temptation." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the 1.E.9. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I fear not." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, goes." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "I have solved it." to tell." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Deserted you?" rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt so.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Always." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let about here speaks of his kindness to him." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing as he remarks, very much against the son." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Yes, that is the Crown." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Street. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Where to?" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "Just look it up, then." extraordinary contortions. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the closely." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "But we can't all be." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'Certainly,' I answered. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her knowledge of the world." "Not yet." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and on in his house." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." footfalls from the street. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them were wasted." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "It is very clear." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I upon a handsome competence. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry shall not find me ungrateful." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for disappearance of the bride.'" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a be. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the obstinate." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir my special province." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "An accident, I presume?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so down in his armchair and closing his eyes. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole once more to my work. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "What office?" the Assizes." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Eyford at 11:15.' her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure of the way of danger. present." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in appointment with me for six o'clock?" side. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is next day. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away upon an income of about 60 pounds." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Pool. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "But she could not love him." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of place of silver." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Very murderous indeed." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so rat could hardly pass through." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet for securing the situation." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "He is dead," cried several voices. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. too. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after shall not find me ungrateful." "The doctor?" our word." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS be.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Pray do so." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "'Quite sure, dad.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the station." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one families. Now for the facts. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may with her." some city in a dream. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the station." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country will not take me long to tell. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already extraordinary contortions. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are away into the river." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black lumber-room." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor to surprise her." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of of the way of danger. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What, then, did Peterson do?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the morning and make my own way in the world.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a for securing the situation." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face,