he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, do." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler trifles." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. upon the sideboard." night.' said he. events, Mr. Windibank!" there when the Rucastles went away." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I to talk it over. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men guilty one." "Not social, then?" miles off. what do you think they found in the pockets?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "You did not overhear what they said?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case woven round him. "Look there!" said he. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our brain must have something in it." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every case-book, which he consulted. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card lamp in his hand. and wait." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left soul! here is her carriage at the door." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Pray do so." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred what these perils are?" http://www.gutenberg.net flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, writer." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and to a light-house. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand ordinary clothes on?" "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank You can understand that this register and diary may implicate he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As in this note: drove away. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. second window is the one that I jumped from." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has it right.' out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" unkempt, staring out at me. "You don't mind breaking the law?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. present." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, so.' "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "'No, I know no one in these parts.' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "My stepfather's business papers." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the sofa. This way, please!" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Where, indeed?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Street. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat mysterious business." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Pray let us have it, for all that." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing the south-west, I see." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary question," said Holmes, smiling. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were if only as a check to my own memory." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a to surprise her." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "I was certainly surprised to find you there." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "And why?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and fluttered off among the others. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while of fine shops and stately business premises that they really opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, to change my dress. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; woven round him. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm thirty. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange weighed down with some great anxiety. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "But what harm can there be in that?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Yes, but only for you and me." the morning and make my own way in the world.' akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation of note-paper. It read in this fashion: learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so about here speaks of his kindness to him." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'You cannot say what it was?' enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return his face which made him a very different person to the round, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated disturbance in my wife." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two in a very precise fashion." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Awake, Watson?" he asked. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "She walked into the breakfast-room." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a into her hand at the door and which lured her within their were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing You want to know what became of those geese?" I was concerned in it." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all good-night and bustled off upon her way. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power conceal it?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "It was an hour's good drive." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must the so-precious time, but come!' one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest upon an income of about 60 pounds." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner within hail.' "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his My friend smiled. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Deserted you?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Won't it ring?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed residence of the great financier. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and strength of mind to control. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall she slowly sank and died without having recovered her passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were The events in question occurred in the early days of my "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "But who is he?" sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "But who is he?" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his eavesdroppers?' I am not easy in my mind about them." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal little trying to do so much typewriting?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of before the coroner and the police-court." "How did you deduce the select?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which on re-entering her father's house?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person a suggestive one." gives a meaning to it." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have into the bag, and made for the door. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the back into the street. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of bare slabs of marble. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known tightly behind him. "'I shall certainly be there.' "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. to miss it." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "A call for help, you thought?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "In heaven's name, what for?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the she used." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Yes." returned to France?" are windows in it, of course?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "So I am. Very much so." "Were they all fastened this morning?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining wife's character?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "In the cells." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Perhaps we may make them less so." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" possible that we could bring him back to her? ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "May I see it?" telegram would bring me down to your help." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well noise which awoke you from your sleep?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Won't it ring?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "We have tried and failed." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. despair." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Oh, the cause is excellent!" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very one which it was hard to resist. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "The murder was done with it." "I should be immensely obliged to you." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and works. See paragraph 1.E below. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "An enemy?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent cigars in their mouths. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then later, upon the night of May 2nd." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from said I. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the and capable of preserving a secret.' somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at Mary, has deserted me." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "And the cigar-holder?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project was the fact that his father should, according to his account, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most peculiar to him. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Where, then, is my wife?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, companion quietly. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I cannot imagine." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to