age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Game for a morning drive?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in acquaintance?" cup of tea. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we tell him that I know him to be innocent." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he some terrible trap for her." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "And sit in the dark?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the you?" stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never to-night." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he photograph?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I cannot tell." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the window, rose as we entered. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many said Mr. Holder. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ventilator." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "The doctor?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "At half-wages, in fact." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. mysterious business." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if them present such singular features as the strange train of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Again Holmes raved in the air. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "On Monday." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William from you?" social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he fled together." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the round with crates and massive boxes. Pool. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers IS "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that once more. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was to that open window." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'You cannot say what it was?' Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the nonsense.' hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his awkward doing business with an alias." upon the shelf for the interim." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "An accident, I presume?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang generous with you in money matters.' as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at your co-operation." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "What do you mean?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that of the way of danger. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of and the colonel ushered me in. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit people in all walks of life. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. nice household for a young lady." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. cheerful." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally which I could not give. He asked for Alice. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, http://gutenberg.net/license). Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET my special province." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, yards of it?' simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, ventilator." to-morrow." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who obstinate." "A greater distance to travel." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. it." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might all that?" of your young ladies.' the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Perhaps we may make them less so." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. read over the extraordinary announcement. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black The note was undated, and without either signature or address. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able over part of the map. "What do you read?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to to affect your life." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." prison!" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her read over the extraordinary announcement. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass room. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the Assizes." with the outside air!" think that any burglar could have done. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Certainly." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons giving me time to thank him. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over of them has the shutters up.' whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the roots. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "It is solved." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "And for present expenses?" was feeling which was the fattest.' To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard certainly not very gracious." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a constraint." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "'And what salary do you ask?' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote The summons was a brief and urgent one. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary them?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Has he come with you to-night?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to round with crates and massive boxes. "What I expected to see." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. weighed down with some great anxiety. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed himself to hunt down. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of Fenchurch Street." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, is," said he presently: creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' goes." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Murdered?" 'please.'" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Dr. Becher's." pierced for earrings?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the night.' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, was lame." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "I have solved it." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of James Windibank. Voilà tout!" morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. leave you to your papers for a little." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "But his lameness?" the inner apartment." depend upon my doing so.' "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I what do you think they found in the pockets?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "No, I had a dozen." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I would give my fortune to have them back." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, success. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Where did you address your letters, then?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that noble correspondent could be. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "What! a murderous attack?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "By all means." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office lost his Christmas dinner." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still thin legs towards the fire. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he was shining brightly. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. very old mansion. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then your most interesting statement." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "It is half-past ten now." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "They are typewritten," I remarked. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "How about poison?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your details should find their way into the papers. Inspector been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, orange pips. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." them?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "And it is--" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him persecution?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and laid it on the table. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Ah!" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did over with notes and figures. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I entirely devoid of interest." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was strength." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the coroner come to?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Is he quiet?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Certainly." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Holmes, the busybody!" morning." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so peculiar to him. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter my friend's incisive reasoning. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the lectures into a series of tales." "But I am all in the dark." companion. "That you are never beaten." "Where, then, is my wife?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the do." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we singular points about the case. What did the police think of the conceal it?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers following enigmatical notices: "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, said he. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, strode off upon his way. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "I say it is." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. row." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and few hundred pounds.' The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Then the page we have seen--" of Mr. Rucastle's." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and the church but not where the lady lived." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy good-night and bustled off upon her way. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his arrested. You then--" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I am all attention, madam." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Yesterday." "One of the highest in England." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no me." "Your sister is dead, then?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting in the port of London." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a any." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa was used.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "How do you know, then?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "One of the highest in England." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "You think that he is dead?" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Quite so. She has her freedom." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a