"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to lectures into a series of tales." invisible to me," I remarked. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Have you it here?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, would apply.' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad so.' her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "You have a clue?" "'Never,' said I. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, leaning back in his chair. "Well, but China?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project case before our client came into the room." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business when your master had gone out." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for quick march!" "Proceed, then." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Watson," he said cordially. "No." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "What shall I do?" "'Stolen!' he cried. "And leave your case unfinished?" Clair, of Lee." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Texas, I think." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "But to whom?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, goes." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "To an English lawyer named Norton." in a very precise fashion." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, prisoner's face. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." tightly behind him. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders are, and they are waiting for us." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." Literary Archive Foundation by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," indeed which he could not unravel. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her been anything against him. He had for years been known as a should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such shaken than I had ever seen him. "Of what day?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply subject to the trademark license, especially commercial suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. voice, changing her seat as requested. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is as he folded up the epistle. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Yes, certainly." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper into her hand at the door and which lured her within their keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "I cannot tell." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Watson," he said cordially. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could showing my impatience. have accepted such a situation. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he helping a boy to put up the shutters. at once, for I have only half an hour." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you the bed, and you in that chair." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. at once, for I have only half an hour." with some details as to your case." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to answered with a sidelong glance. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been because she had spent so short a time in this country that she such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will few hundred pounds.' unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to one's self under obligations.' for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen eat it." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not gbnewby@pglaf.org "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Yes." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so questionable one." with frightened eyes at his accuser. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the excitement. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "What then?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, guilty parties." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the before the coroner and the police-court." has little to do with my story." "They are typewritten," I remarked. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the face and glided from the room. appeared upon the scene." the side-table." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, to his chemical studies. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, little adventures." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by must compliment you." himself. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch fait accompli?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the beyond words. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to may never be exposed to such a temptation." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should would then never go into court at all." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "The vanishing of the lady." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes are windows in it, of course?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "The best possible." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Then the page we have seen--" is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "And it is--" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "I fear not." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a your Highness to the police-station?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any Mrs. Toller serenely. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after excitement. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "And what did you learn from him?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Then I am your man." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "And how?" "Then I am your man." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as said he at last. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken see a sister of mine apply for." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and bled considerably." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "Entirely." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, Count Von Kramm." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the asked. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Oh, yes, easily." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "No, finished." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "It looks newer than the other things?" "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely a suggestive one." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "I should wish to." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it fluttered off among the others. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Nothing." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his visitors." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would vague figure huddled up in the darkness. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "He slept on the premises." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in if she died from some sudden fright." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very from the brougham. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the have I gained?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were father's place of business?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident together. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go several quiet little villages up there." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I clang of the bell. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and it." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I have a cab outside." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Ah!" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I License. You must require such a user to return or "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. one which it was hard to resist. province." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Who was the criminal, then?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "My private note-paper." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Again Holmes raved in the air. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this enough to aid us in our search." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a humiliation." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was is acting for the best. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce seem to you to be relevant or not." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened interested in these little problems, and since you are good great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. and capable of preserving a secret.' "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among arrangements." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Holmes. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "At half-wages, in fact." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'Never,' said I. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "What are they?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would page at http://pglaf.org part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave so.' you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of said I. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." strength." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire weighed down with some great anxiety. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an I approached. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of