everything which you would wish to know." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have nothing with him." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. direction." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "She walked into the breakfast-room." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so stammered. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "By no means." thought that she would have been so carried away." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to individual and becomes the badge of a society." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers present." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "You know me, then?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a washing it down with a long draught of water. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was http://www.gutenberg.net coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "He said that you could solve anything." Sholtos." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Holmes rather sternly. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any straightened it out again. question. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in this remarkable episode. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "'Entirely.' bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "A greater distance to travel." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Did you become engaged then?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "I think that it is very probable." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know gives a meaning to it." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other his knees, staring into the fire. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Just look it up, then." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "But he might be a bachelor." his cane at the bell-pull. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? until night should bring an explanation. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "'A dozen yards or so.' "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. from the brougham. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name have established a very serious case against the son of the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside once more for Briony Lodge. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and walking." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down been deceived." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "My dear Holmes!" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" digesting their breakfasts at home." "Where did he live, then?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "The decline of his fortunes, then?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." events, Mr. Windibank!" up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, eavesdroppers?' pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "It is half-past ten now." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down married her." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been get the tickets." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." with the outside air!" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "You don't mind breaking the law?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' the bed, and you in that chair." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would if I call to-morrow?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the armchair which I pushed forward for him. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two open." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Did you observe the colour?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have had picked up in the wood. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear me upon any point which I do not make clear." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "And your father? Did you tell him?" feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Quite so." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Not yet." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'There is a drive, then?' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of to arrive at through this?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "There are none." throat." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I pound a week." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Leadenhall Street--and--" knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I bed dies. Does not that strike you?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, heavily into it. "No good news?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Thank you. Pray proceed." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted London for the present?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Never to return." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the King without delay." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Was she in good spirits?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "But what harm can there be in that?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left shag which I had seen upon the previous night. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving important." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the child." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said galvanised. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'What then?' I asked. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the even of instruction." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "And help." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at was feeling which was the fattest.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of in a very precise fashion." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "It is possible." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." washing it down with a long draught of water. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would figure." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** means taking possession of that which another person has a prior with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "My dear Holmes!" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to through." "Very truly yours, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "This photograph!" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? country, and eventually married, without anyone having a King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her them?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "My dear Holmes!" to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Pray continue your narrative." hardly wander." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "None." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Dirty?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Married! When?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the had died away into the silence from which it rose. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of once more. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of one which it was hard to resist. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I nonsense.' Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' train.' he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three him." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who sooner or later she must fall a victim. chemical work which was so dear to him. bonnet, and went out." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." over part of the map. "What do you read?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "It is half-past ten now." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a yourselves in at night?" whether it answered to the description of any of their discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Has he come with you to-night?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Well, it is a possible supposition." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Was she in good spirits?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Precisely so. But how--" layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered into her hand at the door and which lured her within their reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock tapping his fingers upon the table. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up the night.' coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "He might." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "And how did he make his money?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them forebodings. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Not particularly." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the