my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Certainly." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see clang of the bell. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards good-night and bustled off upon her way. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the business at Coburg Square is serious." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the in the hope of finding them." "By train from Waterloo." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Frequently." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which events than those which have happened in my own family." "One of his hands." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear page at http://pglaf.org could gather together that I was able to avert another public because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Certainly." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the problems help me to do so." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his happened." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "'Ten to two.' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would very morning of my second wedding." remarked. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter whatever might befall. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I cannot tell." noble correspondent could be. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric public press." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. grasp, he hurried from the room. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his it. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "None." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and than to us. horse could go." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough where Mr. Fordham shows you.' wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I have seen the police." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man which we had just quitted. best detective that ever lived. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, was shining brightly. "That was it, sir." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow straighten it?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very dramatic, in fact." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the cigar and let me expound." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "'What are you doing there?' he asked. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Well, some hundreds of times." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "VIOLET HUNTER." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have during that time.' suggested at once that there must be a communication between the however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "My Mary? Impossible!" himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my papers." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'What then?' I asked. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "What will you say?" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the national property. I was determined that the law should have its brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard This is what he says: depend upon my doing so.' carriage. It was a chestnut." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never ran thus: to a light-house. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you papers." formed some opinion?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of is a common subject for conversation. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly instituted." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar because she had spent so short a time in this country that she go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." gone. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we only touch the interest." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, thin legs towards the fire. "I beg pardon." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I say that I have solved it." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have persecution?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I will get her to show me." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "His face fell immediately. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you not fit the lock." that I may have something better before very many minutes are It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor the devil!" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him is so. I know all about McCarthy." side. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." morning." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely papers on the sundial.'" to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as and effective." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. hopeless attempt at recovering them." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said But Holmes shook his head gravely. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very been shamefully used." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring this Miss Turner." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "To ruin me." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'Then let me do so?' A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "It is true that I have been generally successful." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "And why in hopes?" the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out you, my dear young lady?' anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a once more on the important position which you have been fortunate postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "That's no good." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow face and glided from the room. "Yes, from Horsham." wife's character?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. as he remarks, very much against the son." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "A confidential servant?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, awkward doing business with an alias." an introduction to him?" lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its down from London to inquire more deeply into it." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Was the window open?" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the congenial hunt. before, for it was considerably after midnight. notes," he said. fishes. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was point in the dark hollow of his hand. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into 'please.'" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. fat-encircled eyes. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ DAMAGE. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel remarked. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Sholtos." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat against a man in the prime of life?" take the flies, but not before." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "I am to be neutral?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. bachelor.' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "'As governess?' dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding house for five minutes.' cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the Red-headed League." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Was there a secret marriage?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem redistribution. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I then?" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "It is no ordinary one." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." nothing of it?" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had clang of the bell. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue depend upon your compliance." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were From what you have told me I think that it is possible that table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Of what day?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. astonishment. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "By no means." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place results." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the nursery. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of or other trace. But how on earth--" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Heh?' month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." meant it for the best. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Where did he live, then?" there in twenty minutes." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Why, it's a dummy," said he. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Was she in good spirits?" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first himself to hunt down. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he tell them apart.' and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first gives a meaning to it." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "No, I had a dozen." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to public press." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw crime." gbnewby@pglaf.org "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Very. But will he see it?" much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Oh, fresh and glossy." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the chemical work which was so dear to him. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his down in his armchair and closing his eyes. and effective." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. for its centre. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' there!' The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked place of silver." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a