a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the mysterious end." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. in his power. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of rat could hardly pass through." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very a monotonous occupation." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my ago." this unhappy family?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. to-night?' "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to question," said Holmes, smiling. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." cigars in their mouths. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." article?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "How about poison?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Yes, only one." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. them, and came down just as you departed. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and the little opening for the ventilator is." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in For additional contact information: my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of these bleak autumnal evenings." the bed, and you in that chair." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has upon the shelf for the interim." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. delighted to hear it," he said. "Who was the criminal, then?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Yes, sir." "At half-wages, in fact." look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he this truth that in these little records of our cases which you upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though as he folded up the epistle. friends, not even his own brother. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might see me here to avoid scandal." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not hardly wander." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I o'clock is it?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "What office?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "But how will you look?" "I am sure." cause to be." wedding?" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "And why?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. once more to my work. meant." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "No, my brougham is waiting." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little with the outside air!" and laid it on the table. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "We must have a cab." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, happened." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "The vanishing of the lady." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to province." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send way in everything. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Always." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of works. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'And the work?' fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she awkward doing business with an alias." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "My Mary? Impossible!" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited never will be, entirely cleared up. and inquire as to the address." before, for it was considerably after midnight. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." approach us with offers to donate. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'What would be the hours?' I asked. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." maiden herself was most instructive." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" front of the hall door has given its name to the place. on in his house." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that introspective fashion. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other arrested. You then--" "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Murdered?" good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he had no one to advise her at such a crisis." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week redistribution. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham has little to do with my story." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "A greater distance to travel." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Witness: Nothing definite. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." reach." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "You forget that I know nothing about it." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the think that any burglar could have done. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the vault. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the sake, don't!" Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "May I see it?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that is," said he presently: "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Certainly." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Street. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. your troubles." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the I have it here in my museum." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "That is not always so easy." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "I have a cab outside." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "What will you say?" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so The police have openly confessed that they can at present make absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are obstinate." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is said he at last. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Never to return." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if status with the IRS. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "But to whom?" Serpentine Avenue. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that waste of energy." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Then how many are there?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "And now?" He raised his hand. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am fishes. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "None." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left cigars in their mouths. compunction about shooting them down." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in morning." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Certainly." eavesdroppers?' the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second forecastle of an emigrant ship. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, be there in time for your coming." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried lost his Christmas dinner." been." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "But she will refuse." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Did your wife hear all this?" "And why?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "The doctor?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There the inner apartment." dead, shall be safe with us." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which to affect your life." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another your own bird, so if you wish--" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get been shamefully used." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of not come at once?" asked with his eyes open. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your I. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some happened." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "But who is he?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "My dear Holmes!" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we nights." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "I will, Miss Turner." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "And why in hopes?" serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some what these perils are?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Your presence might be invaluable." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "And help." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the again, where I was soon asleep. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in not, dad?" she asked. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "What of the rat, then?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from village inn over there?" Does that suggest anything?" did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "You are all wrong." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting matter over." "Pray do so." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "No legal papers or certificates?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for entirely devoid of interest." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of your sleep?' when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the coroner's jury." "What! a murderous attack?" door?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black License. You must require such a user to return or was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Yes." it." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Can I be of assistance?" "'Why that?' I asks. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "'And the work?' at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Certainly, madam." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I