exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "What then?" a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped I nodded to show that I had heard. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, already referred to. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide will he say when he returns?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "I am all attention, madam." "Game for a morning drive?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, upon a handsome competence. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Entirely." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid opened the door, and slipped through. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any the inquest, and which are worth considering." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Has he come with you to-night?" I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just heavily into it. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Certainly, madam." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do point our research must commence, and we will begin it by silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Yes, he did." "Stoke Moran?" said he. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "And you don't know his address?" plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "It goes to the housekeeper's room." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have a good hundred miles off by now." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it so.' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you and inquire as to the address." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent London for the present?" suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "And the cigar-holder?" which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing know what is wrong with it.' which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. arrested. You then--" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug himself to hunt down. back to my heart. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the thought that she would have been so carried away." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "You have but to name it." daring than any effort of the imagination." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and written. wedding?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated happened." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." despair." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Who by?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands the roots. read it out to me." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point young Openshaw's." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "'I have heard so.' "'Very good.' It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste very peculiar words of the dying woman?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a three of the beryls in it, was missing. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy had a long day." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was very peculiar words of the dying woman?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "I will not look." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I horse could go." "When did she vanish, then?" "I say it is." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" matter over." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." third from London." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. do." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit until night should bring an explanation. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Holmes. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in was a loud and authoritative tap. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the His smile broadened. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "And I." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what developed." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The morning." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would the inner apartment." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." joking. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Was your sister dressed?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Stolen." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his my little problems." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Where, indeed?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and begin with, and I had not got mine yet." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Precisely." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "What do you make of that, Watson?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my think that he is innocent?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "But how?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I outside. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the with you?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my and files of the old papers, following the future career of every cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied at my remark. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was feeling which was the fattest.' my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. four million human beings all jostling each other within the your room." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' 1.F. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook tightly behind him. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "It's nothing of the kind." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for man. I know him from the photograph." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "The vanishing of the lady." purpose equally well?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "I never have." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all out of this horrible affair." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, hand, madam?" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his together. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, I. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Have you good authority for what you say?" after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "It is true that I have been generally successful." derbies." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "The best possible." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "How on earth--" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the the stones. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into James Windibank. Voilà tout!" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of to arrive at through this?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." me where it went to?" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have shadow pass over his face as I spoke. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "My stepfather's business papers." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear we went to search for him, face downward in a little usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform at my remark. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Well, but China?" During two years I have had three consultations and one small flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper south, for the country is more deserted there." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Imitated." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very the matter?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." his face which made him a very different person to the round, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "It's nothing of the kind." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous mystery!" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name works. See paragraph 1.E below. extraordinary contortions. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "But you can know nothing of this?" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Ha! you find it so?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg them?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon with you alone." already been minutely examined." are, I think, all that we need." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the roots. digesting their breakfasts at home." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to became a certainty. "Certainly." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "It is half-past ten now." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the extraordinary contortions. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Pray let us have it, for all that." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Then you may be so with me." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may might have a private word with us. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "What can it mean?" I gasped. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into giving me time to thank him. three of the beryls in it, was missing. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that matter." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known up this clue while it is still hot." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. signal between you and your father? I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "A call for help, you thought?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love that threaten you." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "The landlord of the Alpha." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Henry Baker is a member." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Then, how do you know?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She or other trace. But how on earth--" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing papers must be those that are destroyed.' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen whatever might befall. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing spark where all is dark to me." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of room. Eyford at 11:15.' "But how will you look?" "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "It is very kind of you." "Yes, sir." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I