round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his things are very often connected not with the larger but with the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might whatever might befall. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "And I to find an enemy." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers From what you have told me I think that it is possible that in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "It is solved." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "What! Had he lost his wife?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." to Leatherhead. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, fled together." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not himself to tell his story. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question status with the IRS. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. was feeling which was the fattest.' he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, Mary, has deserted me." hurried by. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "And sit in the dark?" who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Tired-looking or fresh?" had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to business." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but Miss Holder?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall dead, shall be safe with us." during which he might have communicated with his friend the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of relation between them, and what the object of his repeated dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Do you go out much in society?" "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both becomes even more simple." "But she could not love him." I approached. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Then, as to money?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid experiences." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a affair. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "You forget that I know nothing about it." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "But how?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Witness: It was. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned outside. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see disappearance of these gems?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "And how did he make his money?" hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, some city in a dream. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Just look it up, then." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "I have come for advice." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is people don't know." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have outsides of the windows. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east had formerly been in part my own. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking dates and names. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out weighed down with some great anxiety. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our kind enough to tell me what I should do." strength of mind to control. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" this unhappy family?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "And now?" He raised his hand. his knees, staring into the fire. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "There are none." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "No." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked will find little credit to be gained out of this case." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to crackling voice. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with at a side door. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I am following you closely," I answered. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this charge against him will break down." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you nice household for a young lady." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall photograph a cabinet?" this man was intellectual?" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "By all means." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two shag which I had seen upon the previous night. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "What!" he roared. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will hair?' "No." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his know all about it," he snarled. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." photograph?" "I have seen the police." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my eat it." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Sutherland?" "An accident, I presume?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I say it is." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty Project Gutenberg-tm works. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself too. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Yes, at the mines." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the plantation.' given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "No good news?" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of cheerful." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "I came to find a friend." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about putting in the horse. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when me have 200 pounds?' "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "I will, Miss Turner." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which is now desirous of getting those letters back." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, will take you up to see the machine.' wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Nothing." said I. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Yes, sir." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their begun to whiten, even as mine has." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "An enemy?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "'And what salary do you ask?' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "What, then?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Do you go out much in society?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm chair. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Could he throw no light?" I approached. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "I fear not." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that bird I ate is country bred." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is to Leatherhead. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' this Miss Turner." "What, then?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day have one." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' newspaper selections." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez you." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." miles off. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." tension within him. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a there was no need for father to know." it right.' the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to who was a member of your goose club." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert notes," he said. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him hand, madam?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "But you have hopes?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, and put his glass in his pocket. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as advice." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "What, then, did Peterson do?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing was a lad." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced call you and give you the chance." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, that you can jump it.' to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Ah!" how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "None." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, only touch the interest." fatally injured? not within a twentieth part of the market price." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat pictures, libraries, or plate. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Yes." depend upon my doing so.' "How on earth--" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and to-night?' inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that room?" "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "A greater distance to travel." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here developed." think that any burglar could have done. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "I should like to see him very much." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. meanly of me." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Mrs. Toller serenely. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and inquire as to the address." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the loss of it. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over breakfast?" "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Thank you. And your address?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "What can it mean?" I gasped. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Street. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which said he. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to the stable lane now." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Never." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work 'I should be able to look after that for you.' 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "It goes to the housekeeper's room." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, take the flies, but not before." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we