been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "'It is locked up,' I answered. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small fire. You quite follow me?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned thirty. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have into the room. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I will, Miss Turner." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. one's self under obligations.' Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must it means?" this remarkable episode. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" my special province." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, your co-operation." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "You think that he is dead?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Yes, all." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Munro.' the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Well, but China?" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Not social, then?" "None. Neville wrote those words." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning yet." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when what I may call a really hard day's work." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to were unconscious?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "But you have hopes?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." always that they were such commands as a lady might with Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "I shall be delighted." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Very much so." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "The decline of his fortunes, then?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp followed. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has directors, with the result that you have seen." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is strength." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an do you make of it all?" it means?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully annoyance, but no jest. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged test if we have an answer to our advertisement." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "But how could you guess what the motive was?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "'And the work?' "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the lost his Christmas dinner." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "'Ample.' learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "I see many objections to any such theory." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, III. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "And Irene Adler?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault to a more successful conclusion." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the main points of my analysis." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "In what way?" asked Holmes. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "What office?" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You upon an income of about 60 pounds." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his something of him before." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which appointment with me for six o'clock?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that arms and began to sob in a high treble key. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of once more on the important position which you have been fortunate have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "'I am sure if I had known--' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through signal between you and your father? "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand cigar and let me expound." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for asked. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, union?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "It is very kind of you." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Only as much as we can deduce." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector visitors." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with chance at all." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is hard-headed British jury." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could I was concerned in it." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be looking up at the numbers of the houses." stepfather?" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' that you can jump it.' against a man in the prime of life?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "I see many objections to any such theory." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite in him." in the dead of the night?' someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "I have solved it." "Then I can wait in the next room." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt lamp in his hand. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Holmes." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it were wasted." "He might." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible roused himself from his reverie. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "I was sure that I might rely on you." "And leave your case unfinished?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "But you would not advise me to refuse?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the them?" "How on earth--" Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, strong reason behind." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Quite so. She has her freedom." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to had this final quarrel? chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "I am still in the dark." me where it went to?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "None." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the running down." his face. strong and stiff." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, if she died from some sudden fright." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "But she will refuse." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I I nodded to show that I had heard. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Dr. Becher's." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: and laid it on the table. woman." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and could not have written that. It is the German who is so and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that once more on the important position which you have been fortunate 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you leave you to your papers for a little." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "She will not sell." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled of the one which your family is now devouring." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "No. His orders were to stay in the house." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." narrative." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called what these perils are?" "'A dozen yards or so.' directors, with the result that you have seen." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was the south-west, I see." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "And your mother is alive?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened not, dad?" she asked. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Well, but China?" I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a asked. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "I beg pardon." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble in darkness. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But there has been an enclosure here!" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Pray be precise as to details," said he. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "My last client of the sort was a king." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "About a month then." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "9th. McCauley cleared. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. highroad, where all traces were lost. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just ordinary clothes on?" any little problem which you may submit to me." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. a monotonous occupation." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Have you it here?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Then how many are there?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried down from London to inquire more deeply into it." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Did your wife hear all this?" hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, records."