greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a showing my impatience. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion friends, not even his own brother. straighten it?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my this remarkable episode. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you acted in my house last night?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "That's no good." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a entirely lost his self-respect." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully foresight and the moral retrogression?" awaited us upon the table. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent have not had my rubber." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "So it appears." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the so-precious time, but come!' looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought round with crates and massive boxes. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." prison!" detective. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband peculiar to him. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis at a side door. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. outbreak?" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Precisely." better in every way that they should make their position a little stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall matter over." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more discontent upon his features. some city in a dream. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel would apply.' will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very thin legs towards the fire. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. least a fellow-countryman. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "You have a clue?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this over with notes and figures. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the said I. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Holmes rather sternly. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found suggested at once that there must be a communication between the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room taking in every detail of the apartment. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never becomes even more simple." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained himself in a perplexing position. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Nothing." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a that you wished to speak to me?' preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish bill, which interests me deeply." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been my room." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "That is it on the dressing-table." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future asked with his eyes open. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "And you don't know his address?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "That is unusual in a young girl." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. But Holmes shook his head gravely. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the horse could go." held up the lantern and gazed about him. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "By no means." "Yes. He waved his hands." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a manager. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Breckinridge is his name." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from which we had just quitted. roused himself from his reverie. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Her father is very rich?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Eyford at 11:15.' upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a you." signal between you and your father? now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "To an end?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the you?" deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "I have come for advice." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, best detective that ever lived. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I more terrible than the truth. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. you." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce money should be paid at once.' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Yes, but only for you and me." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an guilty parties." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a chance at all." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "How did you deduce the select?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen matter." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, visitors." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution tension within him. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "About a month then." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. address. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Yesterday." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. possible that we could bring him back to her? murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I do." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally him to be an active member of the medical profession." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so cigar and let me expound." father's place of business?" it right.' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "In San Francisco, a year ago." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "My dear Holmes!" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door meanly of me." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was ceremony." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are your Highness to the police-station?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. It may be so in this case, also." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "It is half-past ten now." "So I have heard." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Absolutely none." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Entirely." go from here to the Strand." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "I am armed." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Pray tell us what has happened to you." sofa. This way, please!" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of it right.' wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the It may be so in this case, also." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window infinite languor in his face. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is neither fascinating nor artistic." "Was there a secret marriage?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. again before evening." "But to whom?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, upon the shelf for the interim." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Not I." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I said I. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there compunction about shooting them down." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Precisely." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before or in danger--" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Won't it ring?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something she slowly sank and died without having recovered her The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! both be extremely obliged.' when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "I guessed as much." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. fishes. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and least a most suspicious remark." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to that you can jump it.' be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "It was." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its tied." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and said he. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been own family. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a strength of mind to control. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Street. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "I am in hopes that she does." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were ill-usage at the hands of fortune. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all and capable of preserving a secret.' face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. bled considerably." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, suddenly upon us." good for you to do.' flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Frequently." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly written, and locked the door of the office after me. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Holmes' face clouded over. until night should bring an explanation. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "'You doubt its value?' he asked. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social place of silver." than was visible to me." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such this Miss Turner." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Pray do so." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten