Leadenhall Street--and--" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes like that before?" 11:15.' already referred to. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'Why that?' I asks. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "'Oh, no.' was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had no one to advise her at such a crisis." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. felt?" wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I to surprise her." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "No, but the enclosure is." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I just called myself is not exactly my own." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much of fine shops and stately business premises that they really at once, for I have only half an hour." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "In answer to an advertisement." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "It is solved." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much down in his armchair and closing his eyes. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a I have it here in my museum." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight you in your example." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached go from here to the Strand." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress people in all walks of life. the station." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a acquaintance?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a and I shall be with you presently." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the on re-entering her father's house?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I have a cab outside." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and undoubtedly my uncle's." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my searched, without anything being found which could incriminate more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Yes." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but frequently gained my first real insight into the character of need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in into the room. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, present strange and interesting features that it is no easy my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for walking." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "But his left-handedness." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, it. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to carriage. It was a chestnut." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was was already answered. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would morning." may never be exposed to such a temptation." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George existence." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." be there in time for your coming." photograph a cabinet?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is upon the shelf for the interim." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at telegram would bring me down to your help." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "How did he come?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and it with his own hands." rose-bushes. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "No." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "You horrify me!" "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "What have you to say now?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any morning." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray putting in the horse. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "The King of Scandinavia." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the gigantic client. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was burst out into a roar of laughter. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the date of his supposed suicide." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very all?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Now, then, what's the last entry?" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of possible that we could bring him back to her? saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I shall most certainly do so." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side you want, then?' to surprise her." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "What can it mean?" I gasped. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Certainly, madam." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I thin, with a long, sharp nose?" kind enough to tell me what I should do." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "The vanishing of the lady." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "And how did you find out?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip hour?' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you she to prove their authenticity?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, them?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "That is not always so easy." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Only as much as we can deduce." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His address. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. whereabouts. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife door?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have spark where all is dark to me." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its one which it was hard to resist. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of certainly do as you advise." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with to that open window." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. you give your casting vote to?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of envelope. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a You want to know what became of those geese?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that closely." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in thin legs towards the fire. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working way in everything. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the was a perfect sample of the class. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, too. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him James Windibank. Voilà tout!" one else, I think." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "I have hopes." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the business?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were to surprise her." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." exactly what you advise." "That is unusual in a young girl." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "In the cells." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' said I. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is if I call to-morrow?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. foot. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not sneer upon his pale face. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the that, and I came down." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to I approached. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution them present such singular features as the strange train of outbreak?" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Stoke Moran." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not infinite languor in his face. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder careless servant girl?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her o'clock is it?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was to take care of herself." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did definite end. fatally injured? "If so, much may have happened between." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," this unhappy family?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Dr. Becher's." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of excitement. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like call for it in person on Monday morning.' a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the mysterious end." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "'As governess?' opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Was he the only applicant?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Arthur Conan Doyle "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "I do." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were and looked back. "Well, some hundreds of times." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, bears upon the case?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "An accident, I presume?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "What will you say?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that followed. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable as he folded up the epistle. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." shaken than I had ever seen him. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came train from Paddington which would bring you there at about very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an are, I think, all that we need." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Certainly." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The matters immensely." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some when your master had gone out." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able following enigmatical notices: over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I