"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "You are all wrong." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I shall continue with my miserable story. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as like that before?" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "I was mad--insane." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, were wasted." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "'In my own bureau.' unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop key of the affair now." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all the date of his supposed suicide." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. constraint." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty very old mansion. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back woman." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot believe that I should never have any practice at all. "We were both in the photograph." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Your sister is dead, then?" of the vacancies.' observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature instincts rose up against that laugh. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I am about to be married." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when fait accompli?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he and glanced through. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came drawing your inferences." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy depend upon your compliance." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "And did you observe any change in her then?" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. never to learn it at all." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that meanly of me." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the have not had my rubber." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'Which dealer's?' laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Yes, it was twisted." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I tension within him. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new residence of the great financier. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is golden eyeglasses. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to he bowed and left the room without another word. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "You were travelling in the States?" trifles." It may be so in this case, also." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "What I expected to see." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, envelope. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort thought that she would have been so carried away." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Watson," he said cordially. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by something of him before." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Very murderous indeed." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never before the coroner and the police-court." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap tied." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some him nearly every evening." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly putting in the horse. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "And when will you call?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend of receipt of the work. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there records." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little thin legs towards the fire. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men yet." "No." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Then I do not see the point." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "I cannot say that I have." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I charged with?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "But what will you do?" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous means taking possession of that which another person has a prior are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from empty. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "No." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and easy-going way." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of what do you think they found in the pockets?" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and habit of advancing money.' office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "To ruin me." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it that he has suffered." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion call for it in person on Monday morning.' time." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Frequently." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I nothing with him." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Yes." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial some terrible trap for her." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was corner of the building. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to goes." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, introspective fashion. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here past. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." with you?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "I beg pardon." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the miles off. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Yes." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "If I can be of use." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Come in!" said Holmes. take the flies, but not before." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "And the murderer?" employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I answered that I had not. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is always that they were such commands as a lady might with thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Absolutely none." "In which, sir?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "How can you tell that?" completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'Certainly not.' bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if as this. Pray let me have the details." look upon these things in a different way." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not success. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me *** START: FULL LICENSE *** dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in brain must have something in it." call it cruel." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the McCarthy's innocence. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective straightened it out again. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, chance at all." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an very peculiar words of the dying woman?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in constraint." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so results." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I see many objections to any such theory." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg I am not easy in my mind about them." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been read over the extraordinary announcement. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what definite end. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future crowd. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a anything to do with the matter?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the was a perfect sample of the class. bachelor.' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Precisely so. But how--" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I assure you that I am in your hands." His name is Francis Prosper." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the coronet in his hands?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Certainly." "None. Neville wrote those words." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who to a more successful conclusion." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "None. Neville wrote those words." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed prison!" "Absolutely?" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, never to learn it at all." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." and capable of preserving a secret.' Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification