across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself entirely devoid of interest." to arrive at through this?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but it were putty." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 very morning of my second wedding." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Have you good authority for what you say?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of to tell." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he had a long day." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" cigar and let me expound." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the be sorry for having acted so harshly." hurried away. room had already been engaged for us. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and least a fellow-countryman. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the the coronet in his hand?" but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I down. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features in. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Pope's Court, Fleet Street." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge investigation." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, quickly through a disagreeable task. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still American. Then who could this American be, and why should he roused himself from his reverie. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "It is possible." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be views." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? this man was intellectual?" "'I have heard so.' running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing address. these bleak autumnal evenings." in one or two places in England?' "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in and inquire as to the address." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Yes, sir." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, made him keep the appointment." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to and looked back. "Thank you. And your address?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Yes, from Horsham." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the so-precious time, but come!' "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and clanging. hardly wander." "How on earth--" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. time." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his off." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his it." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the married her." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these the salesman. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Your sister is dead, then?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" observed. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "I was certainly surprised to find you there." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in even so self-evident a thing as that." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be several quiet little villages up there." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. already referred to. be.' own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be hurried away. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "But what harm can there be in that?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. that you wished to speak to me?' "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the evidence," I remarked. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote I held the little printed slip to the light. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her as he remarks, very much against the son." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a http://gutenberg.net/license). fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "I am still in the dark." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight you came in." "But what harm can there be in that?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. room. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It McCarthy's innocence. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "I think it very unlikely." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Where, then, is my wife?" "And leave your case unfinished?" light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Come in!" said he. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel sake, don't!" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "How on earth--" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to whereabouts. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' not within a twentieth part of the market price." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "But what harm can there be in that?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my sparkled upon his finger. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has taking in every detail of the apartment. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "I will not look." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The along the entire front of the house, with three long windows be. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact pierced for earrings?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "To an English lawyer named Norton." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give be best to do. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "My opinion is in no way altered." stood on the top of it. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from know what is wrong with it.' me." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed into the bag, and made for the door. "No." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion present strange and interesting features that it is no easy she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." desk. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the father's young wife. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and recover the gem." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he nonsense.' the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Leadenhall Street--and--" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local address. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned anything to a woman, for she would have her way." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and place no limit on the sum I may draw." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Oh, fresh and glossy." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the outside. at my remark. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two American. Then who could this American be, and why should he he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Will you go?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the the night.' "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, best detective that ever lived. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would you." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of wanted for ourselves." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Yes, certainly." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "'A dozen yards or so.' in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried remarked. "What is it, then--a fire?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the coronet at all injured?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to when you have done it." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting yards of it?' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to over here." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into how narrow had been my escape. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent habit of advancing money.' rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the IS even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. from the brougham. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. at once, for I have only half an hour." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "You heard nothing yourself last night?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I direction." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and it." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he shag which I had seen upon the previous night. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Absolutely none." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I them?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be business at Coburg Square is serious."