very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were second window is the one that I jumped from." such attractions and accomplishments?' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you gone. over with notes and figures. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet four million human beings all jostling each other within the whereabouts. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, new acquaintance to Baker Street. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of married her." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it compunction about shooting them down." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. taking in every detail of the apartment. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added during which he might have communicated with his friend the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the placed his cuttings. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and sufficient punishment." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Farm upon the left." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me was not a bird to be seen there. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Where did he live, then?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty started for the Temple to see my husband. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was hopeless attempt at recovering them." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. annoyance, but no jest. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." like gravel from a pit.' "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief photograph?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "I say that I have solved it." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and already been minutely examined." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "A confidential servant?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, himself to hunt down. is acting for the best. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the fashion which was peculiar to him. used to be." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you foresight and the moral retrogression?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up chamber." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." before the coroner and the police-court." character. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so answered with a sidelong glance. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "That is possible." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety me where it went to?" me. You must get home instantly and act." back to my heart. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would swore that no one else had been in the front room during the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong entirely lost his self-respect." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress nonsense.' "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and light and attacked it." him!" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. door?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their populous neighbourhood." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, had a long day." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "You forget that I know nothing about it." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon II. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really events, Mr. Windibank!" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely guilty parties." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Chief Executive and Director fashion which was peculiar to him. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Pray do so." orange pips. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but Munro.' the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Watson," he said cordially. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. details." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes over here." morning." digesting their breakfasts at home." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might noble correspondent could be. it." "And now?" He raised his hand. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "But you can know nothing of this?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would there has been an enclosure here!" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "And your father? Did you tell him?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted there was no need for father to know." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of soul! here is her carriage at the door." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without of Fenchurch Street." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." him, that man would not have given me such complete information observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat someone who had been in Australia." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "'You cannot say what it was?' "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Yes." in the port of London." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of During two years I have had three consultations and one small who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and I nodded again. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in your sleep?' before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very like that before?" residence of the great financier. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that maiden herself was most instructive." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "'How far from the body?' "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the in a very precise fashion." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by and that he would see to anything that turned up. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three swore that no one else had been in the front room during the all?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." she to prove their authenticity?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our other, as fresh and trim as possible. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' and looked back. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small up this clue while it is still hot." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless the coronet in his hands?" must be when I saw the door open.' "'Then let me do so?' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his up this clue while it is still hot." in him." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save lamp. during that time.' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Were they all fastened this morning?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "'Ample.' "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, affair. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that husband's writing, madam." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the coronet in his hand?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a highroad, where all traces were lost. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one your own bird, so if you wish--" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET ashen face. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." to Leatherhead. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside fattened it expressly for you.' least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or here." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms business at Coburg Square is serious." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "How about poison?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" room?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "It is a murder, then?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should digesting their breakfasts at home." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could since then to throw any light upon what became of him." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Have you it here?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'Which dealer's?' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the room while you explain this matter?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and tightly behind him. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those this man was intellectual?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes voice. purpose of examination. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it south, for the country is more deserted there." his fortune, and I went back to pa. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both drove away. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a behind me. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in heavily into it. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband to arrive at through this?" "You horrify me." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "It was an hour's good drive." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to crime." charged with?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I taking in every detail of the apartment. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "How can you tell that?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite time." "Did you observe the colour?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against interested in these little problems, and since you are good "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us was a perfect sample of the class. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found been." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and was a loud and authoritative tap. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with comes from the middle window." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "To an end?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send ways of our fellow-men." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "To an end?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? residence of the great financier. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "The Cedars?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless been." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to he bowed and left the room without another word. bled considerably." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "'And the work?' a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a extraordinary contortions. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may empty.