"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Witness: Nothing definite. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I have come for advice." such person." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the one else, I think." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" business in the City. She little knew what. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Yes, there are nearly always some there." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Yes, it was twisted." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He recover the gem." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "How about poison?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it the bottom.' body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were you do it in twenty minutes!' advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "No. His orders were to stay in the house." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, formed some opinion?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like weapon." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." you, my dear young lady?' aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper imbecility!" he cried. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you is worth.' "And you can do nothing until then?" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out went to the Alpha were town bred." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "I would pay ten." My friend smiled. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is nothing of it?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, amused." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a of the vacancies.' enter into my head. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat fishes. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Your sister is dead, then?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young would apply.' "But how?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Perhaps we may make them less so." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk of the one which your family is now devouring." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard business in the City. She little knew what. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much it." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold a good hundred miles off by now." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average back alive. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and said he, "my real name is James Ryder." to-night?" I asked. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the one as in the other." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate singular points about the case. What did the police think of the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "And Miss Sutherland?" reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. opportunities to fix the problem. salesman. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of in him." the coronet at all injured?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at even of instruction." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "No." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "'Where could I find him?' him, that man would not have given me such complete information faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "That's no good." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was rose-bushes. "No, I am descending." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "I have seen the police." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one noise which awoke you from your sleep?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Upon what point?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "When did it break out?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning whole matter to your consideration." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Stoke Moran?" said he. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are thought that she would have been so carried away." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Dirty?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left It was close upon four before the door opened, and a habit of advancing money.' "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "'Ten to two.' presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." bedroom door." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It God! What an exposure! What can I do?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "What have you to say now?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." speckled band?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her might help us?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Then you may be so with me." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Gutenberg-tm License. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Of what?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "I was afraid that you were engaged." mysterious end." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. get her out of the way." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It round with crates and massive boxes. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "I cannot imagine." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "One?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and anything to do with the matter?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me morning." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "He slept on the premises." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. note?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a think that any burglar could have done. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "What I expected to see." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the newspaper selections." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its know all about it," he snarled. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear papers must be those that are destroyed.' course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "It was." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Here?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own habit of advancing money.' the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Now, then, what's the last entry?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Then I can wait in the next room." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the redistribution. 11:15.' the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a felt the room to be a little close.' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Then the page we have seen--" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in power." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with late." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the mysterious business." seen the man in the road." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "What are they?" "'Yes, I promise.' "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "That is not always so easy." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "So I am. Very much so." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Of what?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "I have hopes." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I before the coroner and the police-court." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "And how did you find out?" passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." this man was intellectual?" been with you?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. in my life." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "And how did he make his money?" had a long day." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding clanging. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Chief Executive and Director "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the 11:15.' very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Of Friday, June 19th." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone ran thus: it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to begin with, and I had not got mine yet." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and see me here to avoid scandal." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And now?" I asked. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the congenial hunt. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my delighted to hear it," he said. forehead. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Holmes' room. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "No, I had a dozen." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would me. to have that photograph." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there with some details as to your case." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would astonishment. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the dangers which encompass me." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to with some details as to your case." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Edgeware Road. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for think, you have already met." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is back to my heart. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "It is no ordinary one." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "They are typewritten," I remarked. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the drove away. house for five minutes.' "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the annoyance, but no jest. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is