photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony humiliation." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with crime. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle not come at once?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the as yours." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case your sleep?' bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting one which it was hard to resist. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "What is it?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer train.' "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own *** START: FULL LICENSE *** and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an opportunities to fix the problem. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey your Highness to the police-station?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the in my life." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room said he. might have a private word with us. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." wedding?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the matter." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be once more for Briony Lodge. he bowed and left the room without another word. his forehead." which are rolled in Rotterdam." in a friendly supper." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "And I say east," said my patient. "And Irene Adler?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of peculiar to him. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Doctor, of the paper and the date." Foundation "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "What steps will you take?" I asked. the best of training." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have might help us?" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "So I am. Very much so." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Ha! you find it so?" over here." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, words came to my lips. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, tail." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more you." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. drove away. the station." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "But what harm can there be in that?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "But you have hopes?" legal crime." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" had formerly been in part my own. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the footfalls from the street. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "And how have you succeeded?" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "It certainly sounds feasible." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of sound at heart." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at strong reason behind." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the you give your casting vote to?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to happened." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "He is still with you, I presume?" emerged. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of already referred to. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the of Mr. Rucastle's." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the to arrive at through this?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Has he come with you to-night?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "And sit in the dark?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Nothing." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "The landlord of the Alpha." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should to tackle the facts." "So I have heard." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Stoke Moran." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Holmes' thin, eager face. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance morning." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "But not more so than I to find you." man. I know him from the photograph." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly strange features which were associated with the two crimes which poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Sholtos." some terrible trap for her." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Will you go?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" chamber." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you past. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. upon an income of about 60 pounds." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Yes." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally showing my impatience. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and crime." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. records." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged distinguish the words: you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly and the colonel ushered me in. later, upon the night of May 2nd." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business whole matter to your consideration." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "He might." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Very murderous indeed." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this guilty parties." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the disappearance of the bride.'" throat." neither fascinating nor artistic." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great better grown goose." "Yes, sir." stepfather?" used to be." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of and put his glass in his pocket. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he meanly of me." leaning back in his chair. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and one of the states of the Union." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "But the mystery?" past. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose of this gang." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their bed dies. Does not that strike you?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek gone. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, them present such singular features as the strange train of met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I think that it is very probable." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Holmes." carried out of court." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." upon an income of about 60 pounds." events than those which have happened in my own family." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good without success. At last the little money which I had saved began thought that she would have been so carried away." entirely lost his self-respect." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite and inquire as to the address." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of one's self under obligations.' Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "And how?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do me where it went to?" "But how?" "It is solved." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. remarked. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. correct than the official force." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources train.' "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Come in!" said Holmes. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Who by?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "Yes, he did." "How often?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Now, then, what's the last entry?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell matter." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of he bowed and left the room without another word. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened will take you up to see the machine.' "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety maid will bring up your coffee." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. your equipment. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. my secret was safe in his possession. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return it were putty." "I cannot think." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Yes." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Where, then?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who them?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Yes, he did." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned used to be." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the warnings." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm into the room. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "I have hopes." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the results." that I can to serve you." "I have my revolver," said I. highly," said Holmes. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no I leave." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "To the police?" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in prepare for the new role I have to play." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, society." hands. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "To ruin me." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey time." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "What then?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced foresight and the moral retrogression?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain.