"But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm must compliment you." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at of them has the shutters up.' chair. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "I am in hopes that she does." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "And it is--" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "How on earth--" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and photograph?" "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted once more on the important position which you have been fortunate are, and they are waiting for us." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without kindly on the shoulder. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "And what did you learn from him?" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Your French gold?" "Yes." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Murdered?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the late!' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "It is half-past ten now." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the them?" the date of his supposed suicide." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have national property. I was determined that the law should have its "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the know all about it," he snarled. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the good-night and bustled off upon her way. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite singular points about the case. What did the police think of the cup of tea. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of without a word or a look. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'Why that?' I asks. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. telegram would bring me down to your help." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and highly," said Holmes. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "At the wedding breakfast." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the call for it in person on Monday morning.' father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell to-night's adventure." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" Watson," he said cordially. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it because she had spent so short a time in this country that she seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Then you may be so with me." father's place of business?" gone before you can get him to hospital." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the and it need not interfere very much with one's other saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much page at http://pglaf.org Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "It looks newer than the other things?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with the one as in the other." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the brain must have something in it." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be be.' "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" Have you good authority for what you say?" yards of it?' "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not burst into a hearty fit of laughter. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "You have the photograph?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any characteristics, but those are the more obvious." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I have a cab outside." and laid it on the table. "What can you not understand?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed minor matters until to-morrow." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is to-morrow." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in forebodings. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'Is purely nominal.' papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a advice." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I am following you closely," I answered. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the here." and the church but not where the lady lived." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside to me. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "But I have heard all that you have heard." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark that, and I came down." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, only touch the interest." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, flock.' foresight and the moral retrogression?" moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "I don't believe it." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his interested in these little problems, and since you are good piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Dirty?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a desk. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "By all means." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw not come at once?" business in the City. She little knew what. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate your billet.' "How did you deduce the select?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in if she died from some sudden fright." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, that you can jump it.' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project long narrative. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime bill, which interests me deeply." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the business came to an end." retorted upon me, and I on you." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing what do you think they found in the pockets?" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Nothing." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "It is possible." "I am to be neutral?" Heh?' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Nothing?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Ha! you find it so?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "My dear Holmes!" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "I am sure." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your noting anything else of interest. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of horse could go." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES I am not easy in my mind about them." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "A call for help, you thought?" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have neither fascinating nor artistic." License. You must require such a user to return or which our visitor detailed to us. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "She told me to ask you." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in you came in." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to I approached. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "I will do it." the coronet in his hand?" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a about here speaks of his kindness to him." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "I am about to be married." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I be there in time for your coming." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted possible that we could bring him back to her? was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all which are rolled in Rotterdam." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached business in the City. She little knew what. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "He disappeared so suddenly." that I am arrested." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such meant it for the best. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A bird of prey. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, case-book, which he consulted. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "The Cedars?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon shadow pass over his face as I spoke. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Not him." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we nothing of it?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my train from Paddington which would bring you there at about prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom with some details as to your case." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' quick march!" 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey amused." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Very murderous indeed." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "What is it, then--a fire?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and inquire as to the address." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 shag which I had seen upon the previous night. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'I am sure that I do not know.' "What is it?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in what do you think they found in the pockets?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or interested in these little problems, and since you are good Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, IS "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "VIOLET HUNTER." said he. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I even of instruction." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after fat-encircled eyes. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Nothing." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Nothing." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Where, then?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "How did you deduce the select?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too