thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of assist you in forming an opinion." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time already referred to. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned papers diligently of late, have you not?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Well?" "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Your presence might be invaluable." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the room. "Proceed, then." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal as yours." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Yes." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "No." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a crime. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "No, distinctly professional." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the a little more before I quite committed myself. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I enter into my head. whereabouts. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "And what did you learn from him?" and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And he bowed and left the room without another word. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with I. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret which was all perfectly true. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged were wasted." "It is solved." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and to arrive at through this?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and was a lad." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. danger is over." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "You are hungry," I remarked. "Very. But will he see it?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a in his hands." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" the child." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and best detective that ever lived. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Can I be of assistance?" far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Yes, sir." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And sit in the dark?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to woman." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and one which it was hard to resist. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back most interesting one." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to open." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, know that the truth is known." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'Certainly not. But why?' "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "I have my revolver," said I. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Yes." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were delirious. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "And leave your case unfinished?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a putting in the horse. to have been novel and of interest." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I am about to be married." front of me. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads The telegram which we eventually received came late one night fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "I am about to be married." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear conceal it?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "No." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, secret." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Very much so." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest the stable lane now." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." money should be paid at once.' be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home down in his armchair and closing his eyes. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the so-precious time, but come!' "By all means." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no late." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "'Yes, sir.' husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Certainly." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Yes, certainly." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. extraordinary contortions. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Nearly eleven." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. was feeling which was the fattest.' the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the roots. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" 1.F. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Not in the least." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he me. You must get home instantly and act." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "No, distinctly professional." may never be exposed to such a temptation." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at true." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no morning." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, meant." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the coroner come to?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at heavy and sharp instrument." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Quite so. She has her freedom." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I should like to see him very much." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to The summons was a brief and urgent one. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but appeal." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "What is it?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "'I am sure if I had known--' him. "But your client--" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" in him." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I am armed." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Now, then, what's the last entry?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "9th. McCauley cleared. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had ill-usage at the hands of fortune. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had front of me. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a his eyes and forehead. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that companion. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "And when will you call?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and people don't know." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Pray let us have it, for all that." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, have had none more fantastic than this." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I and I shall be with you presently." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped highly," said Holmes. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Yes." points to suicide?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "And you don't know his address?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Yes, but only for you and me." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a when your master had gone out." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, young Openshaw's." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "She showed me, as I told you she would." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. I. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Pray do so." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor one which it was hard to resist. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "'I am sure that I do not know.' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." his grey eyes. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "At half-wages, in fact." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "I never have." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, o'clock is it?" "But what is it you wish?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he appeared upon the scene." "None." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Yes." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Never." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the sort at The Hague last year. 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