prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "An accident, I presume?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or read over the extraordinary announcement. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the o'clock is it?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow it. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "'What would be the hours?' I asked. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "He is dead," cried several voices. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "What have you to say now?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on forehead. weighed down with some great anxiety. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "That is it on the dressing-table." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "What can it mean?" I gasped. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a our word." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven once more. "I would give my fortune to have them back." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else upon a handsome competence. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. business came to an end." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "And why?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away dramatic, in fact." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his eat it." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a desk. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Never to return." events, Mr. Windibank!" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "But what harm can there be in that?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind like that before?" detective. "On Monday." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I cannot imagine." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is think that he is innocent?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "What are they?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a time." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I will do it." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I am to be neutral?" silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather problems help me to do so." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure father's young wife. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" whole matter to your consideration." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. papers diligently of late, have you not?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open strange features which were associated with the two crimes which then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, once more to my work. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "I don't believe it." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Eyford." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before was it brought him the coronet? generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several was used.' he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. is four-and-twenty." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business public press." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in tell him that I know him to be innocent." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United answer." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a back to my heart. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded purpose equally well?" "'And the work?' for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and sake, don't!" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "And help." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an all-comprehensive glances. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg back to my heart. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building Pope's Court, Fleet Street." started for the Temple to see my husband. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Yes." the stones. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some time." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son situation." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "And what did you see?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as II. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went open." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "And it is--" "'Oh, no.' deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account was once confined in the cab my mission was practically the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "It was." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I were new raised from a basin. Pool. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the directors, with the result that you have seen." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & correct than the official force." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done weapon." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Have you her photograph?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and singular points about the case. What did the police think of the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "No." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our was feeling which was the fattest.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is me where it went to?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door became a certainty. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope records." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "On Monday." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were in a friendly supper." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes back into the street. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that page at http://pglaf.org during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain daring than any effort of the imagination." might help us?" as noiselessly as she had come. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the prison!" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the companion imperturbably. to-night's adventure." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped lips." "'Ten to two.' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I would give my fortune to have them back." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, question. seen the man in the road." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the station." will take you up to see the machine.' some place of shelter and let the county police know what has and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough forebodings. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all returned to France?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" and a shock of very red hair. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been outside." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but papers on the sundial.'" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts villagers almost as much as their master. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim me, and I could not think that his explanation of the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. returning from some small jollification and was making his way lamp. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. introspective fashion. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is visitors." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since works. See paragraph 1.E below. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is what these perils are?" with frightened eyes at his accuser. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be companion quietly. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "I do." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet woman who has had her own way to make in the world. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Then how many are there?" direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I have my revolver," said I. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Pool. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have tied." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "I have hopes." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, never will be, entirely cleared up. "Then he might have called to you?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have all that?" the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates overpowering excitement and concern. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "You did not overhear what they said?" began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "How did you trace it, then?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "We have tried and failed." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET pressing in one house as in another. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even