other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her detective. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Clair, of Lee." were wasted." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "You saw the ventilator, too?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "My opinion is in no way altered." "'Where to?' "Texas, I think." "I shall be delighted." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "No." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of and I shall be with you presently." bird of prey. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a and the whole place is in a blaze." call for it in person on Monday morning.' "A greater distance to travel." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United held up the lantern and gazed about him. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw or in danger--" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, placed his cuttings. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Here?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "'Yes, it was gone.' be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Dr. Becher's." "Was he the only applicant?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I infinite languor in his face. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Yes, I have one waiting." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the closely." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of know all about it," he snarled. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "To the police?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I events than those which have happened in my own family." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. attention." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the galvanised. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so national property. I was determined that the law should have its brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Yes, from Horsham." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and What do you deduce from it?" seen the man in the road." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I am all attention, madam." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "You think that he is dead?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "'Is purely nominal.' his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to if I call to-morrow?" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a bedroom door." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." business?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "And why in hopes?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "But your client--" there was no need for father to know." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "It certainly sounds feasible." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the delirious. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope such attractions and accomplishments?' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "On Monday." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs me. You must get home instantly and act." "Won't it ring?" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the salesman. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Serpentine Avenue. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she colour had been driven from his face. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears third from London." galvanised. in a very precise fashion." main points of my analysis." that threaten you." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" over here." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he conduct the inquiry." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Pray do so." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to hurried away. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." long narrative. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Really! You surprise me." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. indiscretion." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." the station." you do it in twenty minutes!' lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put stood on the top of it. "But the mystery?" "Pray do so." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second fashion which was peculiar to him. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his silent! Oh, he will be silent!' woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Tired-looking or fresh?" copied or distributed: the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was British peeress.'" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Edgeware Road. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from you?" Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so seem to you to be relevant or not." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Chief Executive and Director "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "It surprised me." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' acquaintance?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner directly by questioning you." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my cheerful." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, may have an influence upon European history." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On photograph?" this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." for and were ordered to this address. amused." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Murdered?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the tragedy. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "In what way?" asked Holmes. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must your billet.' "That is unusual in a young girl." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Yes?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "No." "No bad?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a roused himself from his reverie. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor about. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "My dear Holmes!" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry my room." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the tragedy. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. note?" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was here and I will read it to you: frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "One?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" down. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to way in." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the general public were present, then?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'I am sure if I had known--' off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "You have the photograph?" "Was your sister dressed?" "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Not in a good cause." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," power." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the very morning of the wedding." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Nearly eleven." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during that returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential cigars in their mouths. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! never to learn it at all." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his of Mr. Rucastle's." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "A client, then?" dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Precisely." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Yes?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing presume?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. your only hope of safety." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "No good news?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I bearing upon the case." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Yes." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during photograph?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." have got?" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. like gravel from a pit.' and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in dear old homesteads?" remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" stalked out of the room. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." following enigmatical notices: collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut thin legs towards the fire. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "But what harm can there be in that?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his amused." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative your own bird, so if you wish--" the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one The note was undated, and without either signature or address. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations there were so many in the whole country as were brought together have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, congenial hunt. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must right! Sit down and let us talk it over." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the anything to do with the matter?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really