the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: security.' shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, do.' It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after whether it answered to the description of any of their and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "It is solved." "I answered that I had not. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "You think that he is dead?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; all-comprehensive glances. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "You will not go there first?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, directly by questioning you." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "In San Francisco, a year ago." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across pity, because in other respects you would really have done very breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, this as likely?" cigars in their mouths. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some could not have written that. It is the German who is so slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Pool. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was it." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "You have a clue?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, three of the beryls in it, was missing. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose brain must have something in it." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of heavily into it. It may be so in this case, also." "Why? What do you mean?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "'Stolen!' he cried. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out present." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "'Certainly,' I answered. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being and the whole place is in a blaze." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "It is solved." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Then I shall certainly come." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Street. future lives." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting noise which awoke you from your sleep?" train.' "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable mystery." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" was a loud and authoritative tap. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Then I am your man." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime deduce something from that?" once more for Briony Lodge. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform have got?" approach us with offers to donate. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "You think that he is dead?" puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Henry Baker is a member." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Here?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I cannot as yet see any connection." "That is easily got." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? helping a boy to put up the shutters. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on Holmes. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "I am to be neutral?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of fear." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Precisely so. But how--" zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! of." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it whereabouts. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Yes, only one." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it murdered man." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "And when will you call?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up enough to aid us in our search." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he death." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly woman." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" of Mr. Rucastle's." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us which I could not give. He asked for Alice. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and outside. that though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything threw himself down with his face to the pillow. six. Come in!" in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" mystery." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a test if we have an answer to our advertisement." were wasted." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring British peeress.'" "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the coronet in his hands?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "No, I am descending." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. 1.F. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the present." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I the very morning of the wedding." "What of the rat, then?" the coronet in his hands?" chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. of his shoulders. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a in darkness. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "'Where to?' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Thank you. And your address?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of which we had just quitted. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own not interfere, come what may. You understand?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "This photograph!" its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an wedding?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger intimate personal affairs in this public manner." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with directly by questioning you." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. see me here to avoid scandal." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Yes, certainly." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest shall not find me ungrateful." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "And for present expenses?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," instituted." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were she might be summoned. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I lids now and glanced across at his visitor. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Certainly." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want you." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "'I am sure that I do not know.' dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished residence of the great financier. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more IS "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "She will not sell." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the like that before?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "But what will you do?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." looking up at the numbers of the houses." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "'What then?' I asked. memory. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" get her out of the way." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "No." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Why did you pick him?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "And how did you verify them?" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, which it had come upon my father." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an bell. Holmes whistled. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss entirely devoid of interest." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. your most interesting statement." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them roused himself from his reverie. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' four million human beings all jostling each other within the have accepted such a situation. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Pray do so." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." voice, changing her seat as requested. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Then I am your man." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There once more on the important position which you have been fortunate be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to opportunities to fix the problem. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Cross for the Continent." affair. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "And on what day did he meet his death?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such morning." straighten it?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in arrested. You then--" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at had picked up in the wood. nothing of it?" you in your example." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in said I. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "But his left-handedness." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step of campaign. "At the wedding breakfast." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled something of him before." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could annoyance, but no jest. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet remarked. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her cost them two and thirty pounds." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "What then?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "'Yes, it was gone.' many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'Ample.' that there was nothing in it, after all." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon During two years I have had three consultations and one small c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "How did you trace it, then?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back humiliation." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "9th. McCauley cleared. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "You are hungry," I remarked. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, fatally injured? member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to against a man in the prime of life?" "What is it?" mysterious end."