thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "No, thank goodness, she did not." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away was keenly on my guard against him. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been do you make of it all?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Yes." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel the best of training." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." them, and came down just as you departed. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third colour had been driven from his face. with frightened eyes at his accuser. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." compunction about shooting them down." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. even so self-evident a thing as that." "Do you go out much in society?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of redistribution. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent take the flies, but not before." like gravel from a pit.' possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and stepfather?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after this truth that in these little records of our cases which you said I. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Sutherland?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." fishes. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "And did you observe any change in her then?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Dark enough and sinister enough." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I am still in the dark." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the inner apartment." "But of what society?" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own fluttered off among the others. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of matters immensely." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Eyford." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "I was mad--insane." the best of training." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray your equipment. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "Did your wife hear all this?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. there is a decided draught." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the this as likely?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "And is that all?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Yes, only one." behind me. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Arthur Conan Doyle note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the at my own good fortune. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Bought." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how at a side door. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He you." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and brandy and water within his reach. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here forebodings. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit to tell." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat one else, I think." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with beyond words. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he information in his hands the value of which he did not himself you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "And I." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so bare slabs of marble. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black will be renamed. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and posted to-day." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "It is solved." "Very much so." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which of receipt of the work. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Never." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "But she will refuse." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." one of the states of the Union." one of them." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "And is that all?" nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room man. I know him from the photograph." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated there." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I am sure." "That was it, sir." hard-headed British jury." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded she used." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." was lame." his grey eyes. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "No." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Her father is very rich?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "What will you say?" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "It missed him, then?" the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he was already answered. problems help me to do so." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "The landlord of the Alpha." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it back alive. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still have an American origin." "What will you do, then?" do.' Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Game for a morning drive?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual be best to do. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Holmes, the busybody!" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her the bed, and you in that chair." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had considering the formidable letters which were received by himself habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to your Highness to the police-station?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Holmes' thin, eager face. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen now. It seems that there had been some informality about their been shamefully used." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I to talk it over. thirty. highly," said Holmes. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' to-night?' "No, I had a dozen." Holmes rather sternly. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a case-book, which he consulted. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "But of what society?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I on in his house." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on there when the Rucastles went away." you?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Get out!" said he. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you away to you." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered crowd. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "But what is it you wish?" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Imitated." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. compunction about shooting them down." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little mystery!" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" I nodded again. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand fire. You quite follow me?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an records." The King stared at him in amazement. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on It was close upon four before the door opened, and a that threaten you." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Two days later this same performance was gone through under foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "I promise," said Holmes. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try at my remark. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "And I." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't it with his own hands." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "The Cedars?" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to village inn over there?" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking do." four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a call the police, let the police find what they can.' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "That sounds a little paradoxical." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to shag which I had seen upon the previous night. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "To an English lawyer named Norton." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Upon what point?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was away to you." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by as noiselessly as she had come. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" were unconscious?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "No, distinctly professional." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "'Certainly not. But why?' "The knees of his trousers." McCarthy's innocence. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "And your father? Did you tell him?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Arthur Conan Doyle his grey eyes. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Do you receive much company?" he asked. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "And what then?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, them?" maid will bring up your coffee." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was official police." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that