"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you unkempt, staring out at me. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you that?' XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just right! Sit down and let us talk it over." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in envelope. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for asked with his eyes open. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. there." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is eavesdroppers?' young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left was it brought him the coronet? "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "I was mad--insane." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I am all attention, madam." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect Does that suggest anything?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "None." "But what is it you wish?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot as he remarks, very much against the son." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so His smile broadened. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, papers must be those that are destroyed.' when you have done it." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "None." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I of a light. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Mrs. Toller serenely. would then never go into court at all." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature rat could hardly pass through." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall for its centre. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, matter." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger away into the river." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "And Miss Sutherland?" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been himself in a perplexing position. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon or in danger--" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the tragedy. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "The murder was done with it." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped six. Come in!" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "You have a clue?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per to you." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I cannot imagine." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return the stones. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Pray be precise as to details," said he. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both been shamefully used." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare really the only notable feature about the thing." think, you have already met." and capable of preserving a secret.' upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the salesman. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret affection." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand spark where all is dark to me." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, away into the river." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a looking up at the numbers of the houses." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came went to the Alpha were town bred." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out beyond words. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of outside. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "How can you tell that?" he bowed and left the room without another word. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the that threaten you." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the bed, and you in that chair." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which writing, and yet I know it well." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I good for you to do.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." was a perfect sample of the class. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible even so self-evident a thing as that." "No." "Pray continue your narrative." "Entirely." became a certainty. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove place, I think that there is good ground to think that the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Cross for the Continent." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Certainly, madam." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "You horrify me." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third sneer upon his pale face. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." six. Come in!" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his of note-paper. It read in this fashion: severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried narrative." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper sofa. This way, please!" "Was there a secret marriage?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every lids now and glanced across at his visitor. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'Yes.' you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there to me. wife's character?" "Pray do so." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid written, and locked the door of the office after me. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "It must be recovered." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Stoke Moran." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this distance from the station, and there we found the young lady tassel actually lying upon the pillow. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "The best possible." "But I have heard all that you have heard." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Tired-looking or fresh?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his hurried away. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Yes, it would be as well." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and now. It seems that there had been some informality about their fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had some terrible trap for her." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger 1.F. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there relation between them, and what the object of his repeated train.' came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "But not more so than I to find you." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "The gentleman I describe." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "But what will you do?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. his cane at the bell-pull. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Precisely." "I am all attention, madam." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "That also I could fathom." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is nice household for a young lady." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I will get her to show me." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me bled considerably." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great is four-and-twenty." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your from you?" "Did he not advertise?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "No, I had a dozen." "It is very clear." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray suggested at once that there must be a communication between the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the danger is over." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Count Von Kramm." bachelor.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Your French gold?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been something of him before." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "I don't believe it." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there there when the Rucastles went away." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." was keenly on my guard against him. "Thank you. And your address?" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "What! Had he lost his wife?" presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And what then?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's place, I think that there is good ground to think that the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All before the coroner and the police-court." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Certainly." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in you do it in twenty minutes!' "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." me have 200 pounds?' roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the coroner come to?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly for and were ordered to this address. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "But you can know nothing of this?" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, together. down. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. and a shock of very red hair. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "I say it is." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and congenial hunt. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the running down." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that girl said." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's taking in every detail of the apartment. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the matter." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private asked with his eyes open. the south-west, I see." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.