There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very my secret was safe in his possession. maiden herself was most instructive." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." little adventures." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Was your sister dressed?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure kindly on the shoulder. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "But we can't all be." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, together. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. all that?" when your master had gone out." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the ceremony." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'As governess?' his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room present." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your guilty one." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear think that he is innocent?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year politicians who had been sent down from the North. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done some mystery and the punishment of some crime." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when walking." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "That also I could fathom." then?" present." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "'Yes, sir.' that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Have you her photograph?" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a floor. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside think that he is innocent?" as this. Pray let me have the details." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and capable of preserving a secret.' "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." any more." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "And now?" I asked. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" yourselves in at night?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "But the mystery?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, gone. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! of his shoulders. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "And who is her maid?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of with her." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw was used.' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we papers must be those that are destroyed.' in him." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I directors have had misgivings upon the subject." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Holmes. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "No, finished." will be renamed. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Eyford." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Pray do so." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar new acquaintance to Baker Street. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "You have the photograph?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Well?" "'I am sure if I had known--' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I am all attention, madam." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal infinite languor in his face. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez his grey eyes. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy are windows in it, of course?" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is salesman. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for gbnewby@pglaf.org on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major question. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't The summons was a brief and urgent one. plantation.' dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those tell them apart.' "My Mary? Impossible!" "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "What shall I do?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were official police." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction to tell." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there emerged. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Precisely." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps London for the present?" He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "What steps will you take?" I asked. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. to arrive at through this?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few your room." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard interested in these little problems, and since you are good push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the little opening for the ventilator is." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something knowledge of the world." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet upon the sideboard." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the coronet in his hands?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "No, distinctly professional." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own waste of energy." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he was a loud and authoritative tap. What do you deduce from it?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and memory. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "In heaven's name, what for?" "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "How did he come?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the coronet in his hand?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst once more. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "'Certainly not.' the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Never." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "But she will refuse." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all she might be summoned. works. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, said I. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning one's self under obligations.' "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found golden eyeglasses. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong as yours." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. to you." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is your sleep?' Holmes' room. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry ceremony." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying fashion which was peculiar to him. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you was the fact that his father should, according to his account, there!' very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." long narrative. intrusion of other matters." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told ago." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "No, distinctly professional." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in is now desirous of getting those letters back." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but to tackle the facts." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body to where he stood hid behind the curtain. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "'Oh, no.' companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect tail." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Again Holmes raved in the air. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil a good hundred miles off by now." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "You have the photograph?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up your most interesting statement." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "No." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "What I expected to see." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Count Von Kramm." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "You did not overhear what they said?" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a of note-paper. It read in this fashion: Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we least a most suspicious remark." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now just called myself is not exactly my own." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted mysterious end." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "We must have a cab." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs prison!" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Upon what point?" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could the salesman. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend