question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "It surprised me." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the chair. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out walking." how narrow had been my escape. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' sound at heart." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Yes." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the himself to tell his story. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing London for the present?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. October 9, 1890. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up which was all perfectly true. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "It surprised me." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: before the coroner and the police-court." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Do you know him?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "I say it is." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "But who is he?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "This photograph!" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as train from Paddington which would bring you there at about relief. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your said he. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Dr. Becher's." "'Which dealer's?' brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no breakfast?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to miles off. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, bonnet, and went out." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "A call for help, you thought?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two man. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with straighten it?" have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE is a common subject for conversation. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Well, some hundreds of times." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he approach us with offers to donate. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, that you can jump it.' of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, the coronet in his hands?" gigantic client. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally within hail.' "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Ample." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "The best possible." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "None." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some I am not easy in my mind about them." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Yes." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on legal crime." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Here?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." kindly on the shoulder. your only hope of safety." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I am in hopes that she does." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "So I am. Very much so." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "That is easily got." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against orange pips. that?' it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Watson," he said cordially. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Yes." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "How often?" "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "It missed him, then?" "Bought." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper been able to understand it, in a very few words. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in at a side door. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or in my life." it." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and to-morrow." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and impression behind it as though a window had gently closed very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of several quiet little villages up there." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, beyond words. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight murdered man." fuss that is made over them." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There at once, for I have only half an hour." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper dear old homesteads?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and disappearance of these gems?" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could where we are going." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Yes, they were peculiar boots." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective night.' said he. "How often?" young Openshaw's." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six be there in time for your coming." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a horse could go." "But what will you do?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All call it cruel." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," confronted him. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no child?' was a lad." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is assist you in forming an opinion." 1.F. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet gbnewby@pglaf.org little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Young McCarthy must be got off, however." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my were new raised from a basin. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Yes." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who acquaintance?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, wanted for ourselves." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it himself to tell his story. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no appeared upon the scene." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the coronet at all injured?" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to indiscretion." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon drove away. Sutherland. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked discontent upon his features. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the kind enough to tell me what I should do." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? official police." not come at once?" "Not him." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Indeed! Whose, then?" this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in burst out into a roar of laughter. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but throat." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we excitement. kindly on the shoulder. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old derbies." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Married! When?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning that?' younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, husband's writing, madam." man. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A have accepted such a situation. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "'I shall certainly be there.' the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "And you don't know his address?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He Young McCarthy must be got off, however." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project hardly wander." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was woman." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the has little to do with my story." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Yes." yet." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Never to return." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had when your master had gone out." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece orange pips. "By no means." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The call for it in person on Monday morning.' is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Then, how do you know?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "What I expected to see." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." better grown goose." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. crime." to a more successful conclusion." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Not in a good cause." his wife has ceased to love him." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "What, then?" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, deduce something from that?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a the driver. enter Dr. Roylott's room." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a a suggestive one." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this disappearance of the bride.'" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Breckinridge is his name." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. your Highness to the police-station?" "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. the tragedy. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and touch that coronet?' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" the coroner come to?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking nonsense.' The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock quite distinctive." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he had a long day." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and morning." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked green of the new foliage. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and morning." "Then what has happened to him?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin there has been an enclosure here!" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" tell me that you intended to go into harness." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us has little to do with my story." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this waste of energy." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the