"Pray continue your narrative." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Proceed, then." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable someone who had been in Australia." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Absolutely?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading bonnet, and went out." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe relation between them, and what the object of his repeated upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the driver. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Will you bet, then?" said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: relief. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them I approached. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I beyond words. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he look dissatisfied." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he strode off upon his way. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "At the wedding breakfast." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Then, as to money?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "No, I am descending." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I have solved it." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that pierced for earrings?" man. I know him from the photograph." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." is worth.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg into the room. child?' "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the that?' tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my McCarthy." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," that recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "It's nothing of the kind." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "May I see it?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, but only for you and me." good-night and bustled off upon her way. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "You are certainly joking, Holmes." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as himself to tell his story. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." them?" this remarkable episode. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with the running down." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. entirely devoid of interest." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in be best to do. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the ceiling. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Holmes." goes." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the night.' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have entirely devoid of interest." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Why, what do you mean?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "So I have heard." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." During two years I have had three consultations and one small purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. without a word or a look. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his prove to be little relation between the different incidents of read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "In answer to an advertisement." a monotonous occupation." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business together. chair. to tell." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting back into the street. hair?' never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted case before our client came into the room." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Holmes rather sternly. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "No more words. Get out!" with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "What is it, then--a fire?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given round with crates and massive boxes. that he has suffered." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of now. It seems that there had been some informality about their daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Oh, the cause is excellent!" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Serpentine Avenue. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again shaken than I had ever seen him. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his bedroom door." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "And now?" He raised his hand. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "But of what society?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "I am all attention, madam." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Perfectly so." "How did he come?" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any south, for the country is more deserted there." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias meanly of me." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There skylight. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the roots. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I am still in the dark." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "What! You do not mean bodies?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun directly by questioning you." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in society." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you and put his glass in his pocket. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, there." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "There is the writing." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Can I be of assistance?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter followed. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "It was." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Could he throw no light?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "No, my brougham is waiting." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My throat." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and again on its way. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded child?' gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "No." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Holmes rather sternly. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, passage and a tap at the door. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our in the port of London." "So I am. Very much so." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback III. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "But to whom?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the inquest, and which are worth considering." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross leaning back in his chair. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened were unconscious?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I with some details as to your case." where she found matters as described by the last witness. you came in." "I do." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the his face which made him a very different person to the round, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." seven miles from Eyford Station.' some mystery and the punishment of some crime." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it tell them apart.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, them?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Project Gutenberg-tm works. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Stoke Moran." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit to affect your life." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he opened a pocket-book and took out a note. forehead. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger interests were the same as his." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "'I am sure that I do not know.' "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "None. Neville wrote those words." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Not in a good cause." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can said he. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he writing, and yet I know it well." "Married! When?" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." national property. I was determined that the law should have its uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had fatally injured? "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door to-night?" I asked. "But how did you gain them?" few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Yes, sir." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the habit of advancing money.' in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "ARAT," I read. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the armchair which I pushed forward for him. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. before the coroner and the police-court." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I miles off. was already answered. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, have got?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "It goes to the housekeeper's room." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this prison!" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all mystery may be cleared along those lines." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with plantation.' quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" to a more successful conclusion." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face,