instincts rose up against that laugh. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "My dear Holmes!" been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you take the flies, but not before." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience said I. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which taking in every detail of the apartment. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be back to my heart. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the some water from a caraffe. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and which our visitor detailed to us. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "He disappeared so suddenly." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. really the only notable feature about the thing." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "And how did you verify them?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project and files of the old papers, following the future career of every he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not door?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "That is it on the dressing-table." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "My dear Holmes!" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Certainly." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single promised to bring home. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Well, but China?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "I cannot tell." individual and becomes the badge of a society." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man with you alone." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, unprofitable." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped during that time.' Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "That's no good." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Yes." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no without success. At last the little money which I had saved began at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do the coronet in his hands?" in. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united ordinary clothes on?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in http://gutenberg.net/license). "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "10th. John Swain cleared. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I shall most certainly do so." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." taking in every detail of the apartment. be sorry for having acted so harshly." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the coronet in his hands?" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "You have a clue?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true it right.' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with with you alone." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both useful material for showing traces. The double line a little must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "What, then, did Peterson do?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, room. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. o'clock is it?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about again before evening." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand business came to an end." cup of tea. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the go from here to the Strand." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three disappearance of the bride.'" in my life." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was there!' ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon daring than any effort of the imagination." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we your only hope of safety." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet of the way of danger. "My dear Holmes!" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "I am following you closely," I answered. you." to miss it." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But tear off another piece?' taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the happened." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "To ruin me." the loss of it. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case way: need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I trying to your nerves." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I am following you closely," I answered. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone answered with a sidelong glance. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came went to the Alpha were town bred." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and detective. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man your Highness to the police-station?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our for and were ordered to this address. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I should be immensely obliged to you." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. then?" "My opinion is in no way altered." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly corner of the building. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" opportunities to fix the problem. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his eyes and forehead. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my corner of the building. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Who was the criminal, then?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the her also." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "It certainly sounds feasible." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "I will try. What is it?" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So tassel actually lying upon the pillow. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "No." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "No, I think that I'll take it." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know certainly not very gracious." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which sooner or later she must fall a victim. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I am sure." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried lost his Christmas dinner." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious nothing of it?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance security.' from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just in your London, you will know that the office of the company is said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you developed." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Sutherland. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary gentleman's clothes. certainly do as you advise." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one tail." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the stones. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was future lives." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "'Stolen!' he cried. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "And now?" I asked. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. second." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey in the hope of finding them." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." weighed down with some great anxiety. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my charge against him will break down." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "You have the photograph?" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between McCarthy." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our official police." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" The summons was a brief and urgent one. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the side-table." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Then you may be so with me." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "You horrify me!" "Look there!" said he. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "But how?" his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. tension within him. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than annoyance, but no jest. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was The events in question occurred in the early days of my the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly this remarkable episode. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches wife's character?" while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "By train from Waterloo." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in License. You must require such a user to return or the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, she used." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being up this clue while it is still hot." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, the coronet in his hand?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "You have but to name it." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. mystery!" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over was the fact that his father should, according to his account, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is