"Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Always." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers overpowering excitement and concern. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and charged with?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "To ruin me." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project families. Now for the facts. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of I approached. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Married! When?" which was all perfectly true. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the my special province." the roots. "I have a cab outside." name is different." the station." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." security.' that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "To an English lawyer named Norton." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' goes." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was ready to-morrow?' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a absolutely follow my advice in every respect." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was always that they were such commands as a lady might with shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "You know me, then?" days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "And why?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Which are?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put kind enough to tell me what I should do." see a sister of mine apply for." "I have hopes." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that national property. I was determined that the law should have its tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "'Very good.' the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," at my own good fortune. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such should be taken.' "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Edgeware Road. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the general public were present, then?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "10th. John Swain cleared. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain the loss of it. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away good for you to do.' astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I but preventing her from injuring another. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What your sleep?' straighten it?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "'As governess?' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier might have a private word with us. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "On your arm?" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor kind enough to tell me what I should do." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to if only as a check to my own memory." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Do you go out much in society?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had outside. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him green of the new foliage. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "It is half-past ten now." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of note?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "No, I think that I'll take it." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated any." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of some terrible trap for her." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Has he come with you to-night?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Yes, that is the Crown." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "I am in hopes that she does." the window, rose as we entered. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own tail." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, I nodded again. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than as yours." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "How can you tell that?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and your most interesting statement." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the come either from the window or the door. My attention was seen the man in the road." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and brandy and water within his reach. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which nights." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a presume?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will to have that photograph." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of passage and a tap at the door. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that to his chemical studies. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Pray tell us what has happened to you." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Yes." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. fashion which was peculiar to him. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "And leave your case unfinished?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the interests were the same as his." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Yes, it was gone.' closely." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Yes." other means.' "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic to you." go--none." "Bought." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The I approached. know all about it," he snarled. "May I see it?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend him. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many woven round him. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy to his chemical studies. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has signal between you and your father? I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Witness: I must still refuse. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against started for the Temple to see my husband. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "What do you mean?" "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was kindly on the shoulder. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." I leave." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles were unconscious?" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly ourselves in the office." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Then you may be so with me." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't wedding?" my friend's incisive reasoning. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us throat." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "So I am. Very much so." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "No, distinctly professional." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank get the tickets." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "I would give my fortune to have them back." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly hurried away. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried experiences." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "At half-wages, in fact." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Your presence might be invaluable." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has will he say when he returns?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "It is half-past ten now." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "'Oh, no.' he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so strength of mind to control. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I even of instruction." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "'Quite sure, dad.' the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive him!" "That is easily got." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a thirty. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing deduce something from that?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it families. Now for the facts. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her to tackle the facts." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I have solved it." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with populous neighbourhood." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid skylight. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "By train from Waterloo." fact, we may call it conclusive." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without it? Did I buy the geese off you?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "I cannot as yet see any connection." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate carriage. It was a chestnut." leaning back in his chair. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing the iron safe, which he closed upon it. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "But you can know nothing of this?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "'Which dealer's?' "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my James Windibank. Voilà tout!" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must a good hundred miles off by now." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can kind enough to tell me what I should do." Mrs. Toller serenely. been able to understand it, in a very few words. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "There are none." is a common subject for conversation. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself