in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Your sister is dead, then?" for securing the situation." Pool. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, husband's writing, madam." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to easy-going way." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he lips." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their of them has the shutters up.' "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of guilty parties." "How about poison?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a mysterious end." "Then, how do you know?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Street. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question cigars in the box." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR so far?" "Very. But will he see it?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." several quiet little villages up there." as he folded up the epistle. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "This photograph!" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were works. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the fattened it expressly for you.' "Then how many are there?" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "I am following you closely," I answered. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in ways of our fellow-men." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds joking. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be fattened it expressly for you.' "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," indeed happy." before the coroner and the police-court." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method arrangements." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It think, you have already met." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and since then to throw any light upon what became of him." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good the one as in the other." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in strong and stiff." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." key turn in the lock." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they spare." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Seven!" I answered. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my said he, "my real name is James Ryder." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and followed. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a back into the street. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very wedding?" my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, States. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking despaired of." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both do.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "9th. McCauley cleared. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the to-night?' severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom here." the salesman. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "I cannot tell." "Holmes, the busybody!" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside amused." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy maiden herself was most instructive." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "From his hat?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a cigar and let me expound." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." a suggestive one." through." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed never will be, entirely cleared up. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the narrative." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Quite so. She has her freedom." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "At half-wages, in fact." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Frequently." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed could not account in any way for the presence of the missing been deceived." fatally injured? "Then he might have called to you?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, any little problem which you may submit to me." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a possible that we could bring him back to her? "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some companion imperturbably. have not had my rubber." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "9th. McCauley cleared. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the in a friendly supper." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his congratulate you again." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but him to go away.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "What! a murderous attack?" He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we once more. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and read over the extraordinary announcement. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "9th. McCauley cleared. that you wished to speak to me?' '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "You will not go there first?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to I. locked." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not easy-going way." carriage. It was a chestnut." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, his forehead." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. sneer upon his pale face. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a signal between you and your father? "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, could not have written that. It is the German who is so have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask delirious. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His I have it here in my museum." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked maiden herself was most instructive." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as DAMAGE. "'Yes.' especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "And that is--" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "You have compromised yourself seriously." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "And how did you find out?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My key of the affair now." was shining brightly. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. drawing your inferences." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "That you are never beaten." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. my room." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered walking." residence of the great financier. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Your presence might be invaluable." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "My own seal." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Look there!" said he. man. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Then I do not see the point." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called man. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "'And what are they worth?' I asked. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I see no marks." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm held up the lantern and gazed about him. nonsense.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the house with me." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "A call for help, you thought?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I other means.' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." me." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of comes from the middle window." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Pray be precise as to details," said he. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Will you bet, then?" some terrible trap for her." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "You think so, too?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "And on what day did he meet his death?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our seven miles from Eyford Station.' his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to arms and began to sob in a high treble key. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "And the cigar-holder?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "That is it on the dressing-table." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "You have a clue?" took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her away in different directions, and I went off to make my own upon the white wrist. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never here and I will read it to you: to-night's adventure." note?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of shaken than I had ever seen him. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "I have a cab outside." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a him and tried to hold him back. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good o'clock is it?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of shall use the carriage to-night." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't colonel looking down at me. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the is worth.' "I would give my fortune to have them back." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At where we are going." take the flies, but not before." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "That is not always so easy." "9th. McCauley cleared. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." derbies." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this to take care of herself." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the you want, then?' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "And how?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up habit of advancing money.' dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing was keenly on my guard against him. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I have my revolver," said I.