"we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. of a light. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in This is what he says: Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his place no limit on the sum I may draw." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be photograph?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are the driver. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where morning." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, ceremony." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "At half-wages, in fact." notes," he said. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for into her hand at the door and which lured her within their passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming more terrible than the truth. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone perplexity from it to my illustrious client. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the bedroom door." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. dramatic, in fact." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a secret." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "You did not overhear what they said?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "It goes to the housekeeper's room." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just outside. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist you, my dear young lady?' the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "There are none." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "But who is he?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Yes, it was gone.' "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their never to learn it at all." carriage. It was a chestnut." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he him to be an active member of the medical profession." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, companion quietly. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "So I heard. You have him here?" deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. salesman. "That also I could fathom." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," good for you to do.' pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "And Irene Adler?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "One of the highest in England." "No." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I weary and pale-looking. not fit the lock." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, front of me. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes the child." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'What do you call purely nominal?' that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "His face fell immediately. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit sufficient punishment." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a asked. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." one of them." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, plantation.' prison!" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Deserted you?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the points to suicide?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "I do." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "No good news?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "I will get her to show me." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "It looks newer than the other things?" wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've mystery may be cleared along those lines." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I am to be neutral?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the be sorry for having acted so harshly." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear back alive. 1.F. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, in this note: man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Dr. Becher's." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all so.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is cheerful." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and appeared upon the scene." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at three of the beryls in it, was missing. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "What!" he roared. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "No bad?" standing smiling on the door-step. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." me what he had done with the three missing stones. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that girl said." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "I am about to be married." and your relations to her." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Upon what point?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Certainly." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door direction." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Lestrade of Scotland Yard." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "At the wedding breakfast." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Then the page we have seen--" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." you." it. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but his huge brown hands. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to brought there to personate someone, and the real person is in a friendly supper." criminal. We have already had experience of such." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a orange pips. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "It came here." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled child?' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, laugh and put his lips to my ear. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of approach us with offers to donate. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he will he say when he returns?" the ceiling. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Have you it here?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a next day. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I will get her to show me." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but through." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of have one." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third learned something! Where are the gems?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried the matter?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an one else, I think." already referred to. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Thank you. And your address?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I in a very precise fashion." looking up at the numbers of the houses." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on address. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" neither fascinating nor artistic." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not several quiet little villages up there." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap empty. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, pierced for earrings?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, gigantic client. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so footfalls from the street. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Nothing." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "And what then?" felt?" "But she will refuse." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "She showed me, as I told you she would." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Could he throw no light?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have you want, then?' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported call you and give you the chance." do.' shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "'No, I know no one in these parts.' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, future lives." "It is true that I have been generally successful." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss clanging. "Ample." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "How on earth--" and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a such person." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in been." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, heavy and sharp instrument." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" I held the little printed slip to the light. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been views." "I have a cab outside." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for get the tickets." an introduction to him?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however,