It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped indeed happy." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Very murderous indeed." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which with the outside air!" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Married! When?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Not him." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "What then?" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Your French gold?" sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" advice." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have used to be." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET examination of the premises, but without finding anything which an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "I should like to see him very much." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it business at Coburg Square is serious." nonsense.' profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court with her." "No, distinctly professional." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "But how will you look?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." cost them two and thirty pounds." "Who was the criminal, then?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman DISSOLVED. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder at my own good fortune. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "It looks newer than the other things?" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Nothing?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "The Cedars?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "But she will refuse." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "He said that you could solve anything." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge there!' suspect him." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from too. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and province." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Literary Archive Foundation meant." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to becomes even more simple." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the date of his supposed suicide." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their highly," said Holmes. "What steps will you take?" I asked. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough to Leatherhead. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was anything to a woman, for she would have her way." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining conversation I have gathered that they have been married about matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make You want to know what became of those geese?" conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the acted in my house last night?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the one else, I think." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for did not hear it also.' that I can to serve you." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton character. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." companion. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter man. occurred." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the little opening for the ventilator is." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'Where could I find him?' "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through generous with you in money matters.' behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor undoubtedly my uncle's." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "'You doubt its value?' he asked. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and him nearly every evening." him." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the face and glided from the room. "You have but to name it." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Come in!" said Holmes. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "I am in hopes that she does." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Well, but China?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an it." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my touch that coronet?' at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "I am all attention, madam." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped both be extremely obliged.' the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "To ruin me." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage swore that no one else had been in the front room during the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very bore every mark of being an average commonplace British again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Proceed, then." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of go from here to the Strand." "It is a murder, then?" at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "He said too much." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Yes. He waved his hands." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the bottom.' companion imperturbably. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Eyford at 11:15.' and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. indiscretion." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted compunction about shooting them down." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, nothing with him." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the miles off. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have examination of the premises, but without finding anything which here." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with upon the shelf for the interim." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I I shall continue with my miserable story. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to is a common subject for conversation. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "'In my own bureau.' behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "How on earth--" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "One of his hands." or other trace. But how on earth--" still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "You horrify me." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the general public were present, then?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I should like to see him very much." taking in every detail of the apartment. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the gone. "Then I am your man." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable and glanced through. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Proceed, then." "About a month then." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in there has been an enclosure here!" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing at my remark. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than to arrive at through this?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he will take you up to see the machine.' find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "'Stolen!' he cried. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention which was all perfectly true. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "You have compromised yourself seriously." I was concerned in it." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "The gentleman I describe." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, trifles." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Your sister is dead, then?" are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an second." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Then what has happened to him?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Then what has happened to him?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every to-night." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those said I. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." footfalls from the street. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue whether it answered to the description of any of their playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful prison!" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." letters?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "What have you to say now?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up second." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of business?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough records." cost them two and thirty pounds." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" photograph a cabinet?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with business at Coburg Square is serious." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had used to be." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, is," said he presently: "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. have an American origin." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. remarked. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On better in every way that they should make their position a little Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned in this way: shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in The summons was a brief and urgent one. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and this poor creature." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." there!' Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless union?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "How on earth--" "He said too much." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "This photograph!" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "It missed him, then?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "No, but the enclosure is." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as main points of my analysis." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in danger is over." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. was shining brightly. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ***