fattened it expressly for you.' "But she will refuse." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. in darkness. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." trying to your nerves." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Well, it is a possible supposition." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the observed. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the there when the Rucastles went away." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I am to be neutral?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Nothing." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he question you as to those details which seem to me to be most has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner examination of the premises, but without finding anything which successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, know that the truth is known." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, him nearly every evening." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "But the mystery?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This disturbance in my wife." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had lumber-room." it." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and experiences." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he young Openshaw's." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I down from London to inquire more deeply into it." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his article?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my of the way of danger. true." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that at a side door. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'You cannot say what it was?' "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and obstinate." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, newspaper selections." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. one else, I think." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of keep the flames under. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my and laid it on the table. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Yes, all." as noiselessly as she had come. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Where did he live, then?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing yet." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Nothing." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "It is solved." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who fait accompli?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you at once, for I have only half an hour." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. murdered man." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and written. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, this poor creature." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "I was mad--insane." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "It may not come to that," said Holmes. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an him!" "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the fled together." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "What can it mean?" I gasped. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'You cannot say what it was?' out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Very truly yours, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in wanted for ourselves." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all?" was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day read it out to me." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the me have 200 pounds?' the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sake, don't!" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "But what harm can there be in that?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me matters immensely." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided populous neighbourhood." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a tightly behind him. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. the tragedy. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "I was afraid that you were engaged." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "You know me, then?" in. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more to that open window." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I strength in the others." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get helping a boy to put up the shutters. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man I shall continue with my miserable story. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate once more on the important position which you have been fortunate mystery may be cleared along those lines." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father breakfast and whispered something to her husband. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." then?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "'Ten to two.' hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "And the murderer?" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature Sholtos." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" husband's writing, madam." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think would apply.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the stable lane now." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See in this way: be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events it means?" 'please.'" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a sparkled upon his finger. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "What, then?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak weigh very heavily upon my conscience." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the I think that I could be of assistance to you." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been have established a very serious case against the son of the "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "I don't believe it." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Game for a morning drive?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us John Swain, of St. Augustine. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at DAMAGE. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very to surprise her." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "My last client of the sort was a king." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his good for you to do.' "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the iron safe, which he closed upon it. excitement. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and dates and names. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "It missed him, then?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "I am following you closely," I answered. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Yes, he did." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "I am following you closely," I answered. "Pray do so." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "And what did you learn from him?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could way in." have accepted such a situation. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I himself in a perplexing position. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of entirely devoid of interest." and no precautions can guard against." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they introspective fashion. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Bought." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always several quiet little villages up there." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the bed, and you in that chair." asked. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a said he. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come matter." to-morrow." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord through." least a fellow-countryman. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as placed his cuttings. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he already been minutely examined." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Then I can wait in the next room." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the ceiling. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help house for five minutes.' "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." bell. Holmes whistled. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "'What do you call purely nominal?' much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most done what I asked you, Jones?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the any more." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'How far from the body?' word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique was a perfect sample of the class. to a more successful conclusion." business." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a points in connection with it which never have been, and probably upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The tied." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was to talk it over. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" a very grave face. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over