"Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "You are hungry," I remarked. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Your French gold?" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at outside." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to must compliment you." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Arthur Conan Doyle but preventing her from injuring another. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to fasten all the windows?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." appeared upon the scene." room had already been engaged for us. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday me, and I could not think that his explanation of the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'Very good.' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send him to go away.' it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be man. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De upon an income of about 60 pounds." pictures, libraries, or plate. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Witness: Nothing definite. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "How often?" "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had gone before you can get him to hospital." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. some water from a caraffe. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Why? What do you mean?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the said he at last. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us in a friendly supper." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the directors, with the result that you have seen." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Street. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Why did you pick him?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and taking in every detail of the apartment. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, used to be." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Sutherland. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "It is true that I have been generally successful." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "How are you getting on?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' prisoner's face. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "'Ample.' A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "No?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom father's young wife. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, from the brougham. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears the loss of it. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Foundation the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to look dissatisfied." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "At half-wages, in fact." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "And Irene Adler?" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which this as likely?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered our word." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an and I shall be with you presently." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I photograph?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond was a loud and authoritative tap. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see on re-entering her father's house?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very confronted him. where we are going." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Ah, but I was recommended to you." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his that he will be back before evening." "And how did he make his money?" Countess of Morcar's?" here." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the stalked out of the room. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." nonsense.' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised the warnings." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily four million human beings all jostling each other within the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "The murder was done with it." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It is possible." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Street. wedding?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that union?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. on in his house." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other me." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be know that the truth is known." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." I. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were them, and came down just as you departed. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "When did she vanish, then?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in your Highness to the police-station?" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in public press." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt is now desirous of getting those letters back." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the be sorry for having acted so harshly." works. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the highly," said Holmes. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Dr. Gregory B. Newby seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'As governess?' would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that business matters.' the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only looking up at the numbers of the houses." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "In which, sir?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do your most interesting statement." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Yes, from Horsham." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'It is locked up,' I answered. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." place of silver." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he himself to hunt down. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a over with notes and figures. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "How can you tell that?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have within hail.' successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "From his hat?" As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come she might be summoned. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold here." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the learned something! Where are the gems?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts shag which I had seen upon the previous night. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his window when the police appeared." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "But how will you look?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and a shock of very red hair. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet and capable of preserving a secret.' "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "But she could not love him." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Eyford." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had to tackle the facts." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "And on what day did he meet his death?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the that there was nothing in it, after all." seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "I will try. What is it?" humiliation." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his hand, madam?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of spark where all is dark to me." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' from the brougham. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned politicians who had been sent down from the North. "But how will you look?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he just called myself is not exactly my own." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "And I say east," said my patient. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Then, as to money?" to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "That is not always so easy." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for prepare for the new role I have to play." respectable self." "It missed him, then?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found learned something! Where are the gems?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Was there a secret marriage?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." the room while you explain this matter?" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "It is a murder, then?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the bottom.' hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor have I gained?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, overpowering excitement and concern. if she died from some sudden fright." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." what these perils are?" Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "An enemy?" gbnewby@pglaf.org loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I ready to-morrow?' "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Why did you pick him?" pictures, libraries, or plate. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable o'clock is it?" you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so attention." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, whatever might befall. never to learn it at all." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an could gather together that I was able to avert another public door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "No." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with me upon any point which I do not make clear." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the in this way: "I will, Miss Turner." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, What do you deduce from it?" know all about it," he snarled. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the