"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the you do it in twenty minutes!' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "My photograph." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a mysterious end." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well despair." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of man. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that if I call to-morrow?" belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay at a side door. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Yes, from Horsham." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for your troubles." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped said I. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "It is very clear." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying thin, with a long, sharp nose?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. wall." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "In what way?" asked Holmes. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. respectable self." "My dear Holmes!" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "I shall most certainly do so." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Yes." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened forecastle of an emigrant ship. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Yes." long narrative. "Was the window open?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the best of training." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "If I can be of use." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold and a shock of very red hair. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable prison!" "Well, but China?" his huge brown hands. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Nothing?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Yes." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "'About the same.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "The doctor?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. observed. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen have one." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." tell him that I know him to be innocent." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he friends, not even his own brother. cigars in their mouths. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, populous neighbourhood." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "To ruin me." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's once more for Briony Lodge. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" noise which awoke you from your sleep?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a you, my dear young lady?' and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as our word." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so III. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and correct than the official force." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and father's place of business?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" ready to-morrow?' "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "And I say east," said my patient. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "A client, then?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a My friend smiled. prisoner's face. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our and it need not interfere very much with one's other "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" which we had just quitted. "Yes." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed any little problem which you may submit to me." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in even so self-evident a thing as that." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and letters?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "So I am. Very much so." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Not yet." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the have had none more fantastic than this." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the very morning of my second wedding." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had that the gas is not laid on in his house?" to you." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel outbreak?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would in one or two places in England?' such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the prisoner's face. good-night and bustled off upon her way. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Arthur Conan Doyle what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another This is what he says: stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At maiden herself was most instructive." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Will you bet, then?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. hour." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; what these perils are?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility most interesting one." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you about here speaks of his kindness to him." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." happened." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the it." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never even of instruction." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "And how have you succeeded?" "And who is her maid?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at round with crates and massive boxes. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, galvanised. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "VIOLET HUNTER." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered time." details." "Nothing." rat could hardly pass through." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped lectures into a series of tales." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads important." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" I shall communicate with you." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' south, for the country is more deserted there." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself where we are going." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were the Friday. Was it to be in church?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of trying to your nerves." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Precisely so. But how--" have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "To ruin me." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "How did that help you?" character. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at what I may call a really hard day's work." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and carriage. It was a chestnut." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would do you make of it all?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I where she found matters as described by the last witness. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of in. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they which are rolled in Rotterdam." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he ourselves in the office." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "And on what day did he meet his death?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Pope's Court. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "But his left-handedness." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "And how did he make his money?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me forbidden door. writer." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, opened the door, and slipped through. will be renamed. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little third from London." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Very truly yours, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'What would be the hours?' I asked. train.' thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "And how have you succeeded?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Yes. He waved his hands." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Stolen." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "And why?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we delighted to hear it," he said. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the and laid it on the table.