to me. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each over part of the map. "What do you read?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where right! Sit down and let us talk it over." the coronet in his hands?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." just ask you whether you had heard it.' comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George entirely lost his self-respect." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "What is it?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "And why?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Pope's Court, Fleet Street." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense I leave." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Cross for the Continent." were new raised from a basin. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "How can you tell that?" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, just called myself is not exactly my own." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." exactly what you advise." "Ah!" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little whole matter to your consideration." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "No sign of it?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the little opening for the ventilator is." gigantic client. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "What steps will you take?" I asked. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father swore that no one else had been in the front room during the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Deserted you?" over with notes and figures. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "It is no ordinary one." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go his fortune, and I went back to pa. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' through." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." occurred." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Stoke Moran." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "And your mother is alive?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it page at http://pglaf.org you." upon a handsome competence. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Then I can wait in the next room." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I photograph?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Yes." "Where did he live, then?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your know what is wrong with it.' "I say that I have solved it." think that any burglar could have done. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by them?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A green of the new foliage. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. morning." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the him and tried to hold him back. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself cigar and let me expound." McCarthy's innocence. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "My private note-paper." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "I will try. What is it?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been with you?" Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. British peeress.'" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and anything to do with the matter?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "How did that help you?" such person." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the coronet in his hands?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an think that any burglar could have done. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you in a very precise fashion." we went to search for him, face downward in a little to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. pressing in one house as in another. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the so-precious time, but come!' "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Cross for the Continent." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away particular state visit http://pglaf.org "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too and inquire as to the address." nonsense.' "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Where did he live, then?" down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "My private note-paper." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not or other trace. But how on earth--" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I don't say that. Perhaps." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "I think that I had better go, Holmes." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "You have but to name it." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "I should be immensely obliged to you." my secret was safe in his possession. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls future lives." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Project Gutenberg-tm works. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to do.' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous four million human beings all jostling each other within the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the them?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "It is solved." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm little adventures." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Perhaps I have." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my third from London." "What then?" my friend's incisive reasoning. Dr. Gregory B. Newby to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The if only as a check to my own memory." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Henry Baker is a member." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, good for you to do.' and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Arthur Conan Doyle side. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream fait accompli?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel leave you to your papers for a little." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." about. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said matter." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon my secret was safe in his possession. "Breckinridge is his name." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest lectures into a series of tales." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. business." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I get the tickets." "What can you not understand?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "What is it, then--a fire?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Were they all fastened this morning?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled indiscretion." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen undoubtedly my uncle's." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. newspaper selections." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the dangers which encompass me." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Was there a secret marriage?" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no something of him before." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the companion. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "One of his hands." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Yes, at the mines." interested in these little problems, and since you are good diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "None." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only to tell." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless to have that photograph." late!' Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from conclusions. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he next day. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Yes." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Yesterday." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns you understand?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the house with me." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Then I do not see the point." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "And who is her maid?" enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own have had none more fantastic than this." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Yes, at the mines." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does chair. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of fatally injured? means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for to where he stood hid behind the curtain. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the