"Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of views." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But during the last few years, and there are many noble families to conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Stolen." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Now, then, what's the last entry?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left searched, without anything being found which could incriminate in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah directors, with the result that you have seen." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the him. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "There are none." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Yes, sir." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Can I be of assistance?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any call it cruel." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "But you were on a friendly footing?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. one's self under obligations.' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be were unconscious?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a have established a very serious case against the son of the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Very much so." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "That is unusual in a young girl." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "Yes, certainly." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Look there!" said he. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" villagers almost as much as their master. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to definite end. to that open window." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. are, and they are waiting for us." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together in the dead of the night?' Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington key turn in the lock." outside." "You are all wrong." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but been deceived." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "No bad?" "No?" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining despair." been with you?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, crowd. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, you want, then?' States. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, matter." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Oh, fresh and glossy." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in considering the formidable letters which were received by himself more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter points in connection with it which never have been, and probably so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he photograph?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Then the page we have seen--" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited despair." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Why did you beat the pavement?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a redistribution. "Did you become engaged then?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and do.' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of instituted." more terrible than the truth. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is to surprise her." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my place of silver." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the galvanised. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "You forget that I know nothing about it." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. ago." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "The Cedars?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the child." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "So I am. Very much so." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural matter." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very security.' dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to here." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found some city in a dream. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about see me here to avoid scandal." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "I will, Miss Turner." grasp, he hurried from the room. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." figure." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "But you can know nothing of this?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "An enemy?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by main points of my analysis." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "One of his hands." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Yes." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin papers must be those that are destroyed.' pity, because in other respects you would really have done very some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the footfalls from the street. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and that he would see to anything that turned up. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it window when the police appeared." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "No." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, DAMAGE. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Pray continue your narrative." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "On the contrary, this is the right side." "How did he come?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Murdered?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Yes." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a not come at once?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the call for it in person on Monday morning.' lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "'What, the red-headed man?' "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "I have come for advice." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered of your young ladies.' "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our in his power. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he heavily into it. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would already been minutely examined." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "That you are never beaten." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in I was concerned in it." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, union?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how locked." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is look dissatisfied." window when the police appeared." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over round and wave him away like that.' fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend you for a few hours?" success. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a completely overtopped every other consideration that we both when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father four million human beings all jostling each other within the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she your Highness to the police-station?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." instituted." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Yes, it would be as well." photograph?" "Yes." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and think you a quite exceptional woman." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'How far from the body?' just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something my little problems." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "On the contrary, this is the right side." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what The police have openly confessed that they can at present make leaning back in his chair. when you have done it." been." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "How did he come?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in fattened it expressly for you.' of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my know what is wrong with it.' and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Witness: I must still refuse. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at said Mr. Holder. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the redistribution. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, he. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "In what way?" asked Holmes. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight his forehead." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been true." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Nearly eleven." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with father's place of business?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying is a common subject for conversation. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Here?" take the flies, but not before." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Nothing." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a conceal it?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend fuss that is made over them." to tackle the facts." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "He said that you could solve anything." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "How on earth--" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Do you go out much in society?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of to a light-house. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers