will not take me long to tell. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, said he. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." him. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at outbreak?" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "You know me, then?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Why serious?" could gather together that I was able to avert another public "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an attention." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Where did you address your letters, then?" or other trace. But how on earth--" others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who back to my heart. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the stones. name is different." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "None. Neville wrote those words." "I am about to be married." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Stolen." she used." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. my former friend and companion. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "But who is he?" office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being interest. They are important, you understand, without being faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear of your young ladies.' the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Always." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'And the work?' "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he children over to America with him, so that I found myself without refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while way in." "I have come for advice." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Pool. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. gone. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "My dear Holmes!" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off as this. Pray let me have the details." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the dangers which encompass me." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There detective. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though thin legs towards the fire. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in closely." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Very much so." "And Miss Sutherland?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your a very grave face. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger my friend's incisive reasoning. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which cost them two and thirty pounds." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, obstinate." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the coronet at all injured?" (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a could not account in any way for the presence of the missing appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: evidence," I remarked. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Will you bet, then?" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before vague figure huddled up in the darkness. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Of what?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Bought." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "I am about to be married." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, any little problem which you may submit to me." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as is so. I know all about McCarthy." very old mansion. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates your co-operation." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'Certainly,' I answered. him and tried to hold him back. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that in him." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "And for present expenses?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp children over to America with him, so that I found myself without already been minutely examined." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which nothing with him." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, said he. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "No, but the enclosure is." "An accident, I presume?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Yes." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing tear off another piece?' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "'What would be the hours?' I asked. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in see a sister of mine apply for." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such himself. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the me what he had done with the three missing stones. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his official police." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I returning from some small jollification and was making his way answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more should be taken.' complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is than to us. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "What is it?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "He might." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would appointment with me for six o'clock?" written. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, For additional contact information: that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "What have you to say now?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over IS knowledge of the world." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an matter." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "But his lameness?" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a have got?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Very murderous indeed." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw annoyance, but no jest. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Not him." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of this as likely?" out of this horrible affair." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. him to be an active member of the medical profession." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate you give your casting vote to?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in mystery." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most him." "Who was the criminal, then?" intimate personal affairs in this public manner." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I him." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry which are rolled in Rotterdam." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony 'I should be able to look after that for you.' as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a them?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "At the wedding breakfast." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the intrusion of other matters." "Which are?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I believe that I should never have any practice at all. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an for and were ordered to this address. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Frequently." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked coat-tails." Holmes' face clouded over. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, speckled band?" "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Yes." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Mary, has deserted me." gone. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Leadenhall Street--and--" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she voice. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "But you have hopes?" photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "How on earth--" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "I was sure that I might rely on you." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he he died? "Yes, it was twisted." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough case-book, which he consulted. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, ceremony." your sleep?' Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any was it brought him the coronet? "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a detective. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be direction." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and meant it for the best. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "I cannot imagine." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. silent! Oh, he will be silent!'