at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "This photograph!" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known hour?' accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the coronet in his hands?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" conceal it?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Where, then?" anything to do with the matter?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly very morning of my second wedding." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "It is solved." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; you came in." I took the paper from him and read as follows: follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "It must be recovered." fasten all the windows?" all that?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." has little to do with my story." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have what is your own theory as to what took place?" minor matters until to-morrow." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a best detective that ever lived. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and you do it in twenty minutes!' short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I fear not." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave works. See paragraph 1.E below. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the infinite languor in his face. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. and no precautions can guard against." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that investigation." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "But I am all in the dark." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six spark where all is dark to me." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Countess of Morcar's?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never gone. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the works. See paragraph 1.E below. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, if she died from some sudden fright." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" for its centre. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." you give your casting vote to?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Quite so." carriage. It was a chestnut." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Well, it is a possible supposition." instincts rose up against that laugh. never to learn it at all." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me companion. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his papers." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" status with the IRS. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our question," said Holmes, smiling. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and I took the paper from him and read as follows: outside. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Yes, it was twisted." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be important." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "But to whom?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "It is no ordinary one." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I was mad--insane." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Not I." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "'Is 4 pounds a week.' cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was strength in the others." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of this gang." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "It is half-past ten now." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "But I am all in the dark." too. "You think so, too?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are gives a meaning to it." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not sound at heart." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the within hail.' "I cannot imagine." "But his left-handedness." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that was it brought him the coronet? in your London, you will know that the office of the company is or in danger--" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Then what has happened to him?" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Her father is very rich?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his will be renamed. could gather together that I was able to avert another public glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will present." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend singular points about the case. What did the police think of the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if I think that I could be of assistance to you." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "And how did you verify them?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "But you have hopes?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to be there in time for your coming." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in excitement. never will be, entirely cleared up. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "Yes, but only for you and me." "He said too much." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "My photograph." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary cup of tea. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some in this note: the date of his supposed suicide." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with bare slabs of marble. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "An enemy?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his remarked. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'I am sure that I do not know.' "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "He said too much." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, to you." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "To an end?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in in the hope of finding them." redistribution. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Then the page we have seen--" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point that?' clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "I am following you closely," I answered. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Dr. Becher's." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Why? What do you mean?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "One?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Yes, from Horsham." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side in a friendly supper." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "To an end?" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "I see many objections to any such theory." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You think so, too?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "She showed me, as I told you she would." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Yes, but only for you and me." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. them?" what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Very much so." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "My Mary? Impossible!" Lee, in the county of Kent." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "How did you trace it, then?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "You are all wrong." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a during which he might have communicated with his friend the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" pierced for earrings?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send your equipment. Miss Holder?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "'What are you doing there?' he asked. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek putting in the horse. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink her also." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I over here." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so lost nothing by them." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the here." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace and that he would see to anything that turned up. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea should be taken.' license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "But we can't all be." a room. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the thought that she would have been so carried away." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm newspaper selections." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He assist you in forming an opinion." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her you for a few hours?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the you in your example." only touch the interest." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that woman." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole weighed down with some great anxiety. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! correct than the official force." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Of what?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal in the dead of the night?' upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I to where he stood hid behind the curtain. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. wedding?" touch that coronet?' wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to clang of the bell.