seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "What have you to say now?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." certainly do as you advise." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." meant it for the best. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous must be when I saw the door open.' hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "And when will you call?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark were new raised from a basin. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a gone. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less certainly not very gracious." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Here?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall served to weaken the effect. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "By no means." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Where to?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it fled together." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Count Von Kramm." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists been." "But what will you do?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. security.' have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. investigation." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "By train from Waterloo." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of kind enough to tell me what I should do." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question take the flies, but not before." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of been lifted and conveyed somewhere." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for troubles have been weighing upon his mind. own family. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would your bag." train.' the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "One of the highest in England." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything over with notes and figures. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and main points of my analysis." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was few hundred pounds.' the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to fasten all the windows?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" was keenly on my guard against him. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he examination of the premises, but without finding anything which of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon fire. You quite follow me?" "I am armed." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here there when the Rucastles went away." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "'Never.' Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. to talk it over. "I have hopes." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "There is the writing." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Then I am your man." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." little adventures." maiden herself was most instructive." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I society." "Very much so." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'Yes, sir.' from the brougham. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "One horse?" interjected Holmes. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door any more." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "I see no marks." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was copied or distributed: for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive exactly what you advise." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "The vanishing of the lady." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on noting anything else of interest. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get investigation." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly of your young ladies.' have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "No, I had a dozen." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a photograph?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "No, finished." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "No." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a these bleak autumnal evenings." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the always that they were such commands as a lady might with who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for with you?" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with London for the present?" forbidden door. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Stolen." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the head. So long, then!" upon the white wrist. "And what did you see?" "What have you to say now?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other test if we have an answer to our advertisement." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "You have carte blanche." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the station." details." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of there." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a to arrive at through this?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by interested in these little problems, and since you are good developed." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Who was the criminal, then?" continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police writers could invent nothing more crude." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are companion imperturbably. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it gentleman's clothes. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It possible that we could bring him back to her? And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of suspect him." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and records." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, gone before you can get him to hospital." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Have you her photograph?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "How often?" "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the tell me that you intended to go into harness." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those my friend's incisive reasoning. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than of it with the greatest attention. "In heaven's name, what for?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "But we can't all be." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "No, thank goodness, she did not." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of colour had been driven from his face. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had during which he might have communicated with his friend the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Really! You surprise me." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of II. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the served to weaken the effect. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "But I have heard all that you have heard." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "It was an hour's good drive." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On comes from the middle window." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose do.' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or disappearance of these gems?" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the him and tried to hold him back. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may speckled band?" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." gbnewby@pglaf.org these bleak autumnal evenings." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in suddenly upon us." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Your sister is dead, then?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "And from a noble client?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I was a lad." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of make me his representative both with the servants and with the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about rose-bushes. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the detective. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I shall most certainly do so." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I and no precautions can guard against." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must back alive. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Was the window open?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "And that is--" easy-going way." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a Holmes." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to have been novel and of interest." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Yes, sir.' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Tired-looking or fresh?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "My last client of the sort was a king." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. did not hear it also.' exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and to a more successful conclusion." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first opportunities to fix the problem. "It is solved." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."