"'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. cigars in their mouths. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "What then?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the cigars in the box." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his at my own good fortune. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not but preventing her from injuring another. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Where, then, is my wife?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we But Holmes shook his head gravely. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of reach." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always along the entire front of the house, with three long windows ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past this poor creature." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "But how?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole tassel actually lying upon the pillow. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you he died? experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "You are all wrong." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the at home. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about and I shall be with you presently." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in and the whole place is in a blaze." "He might." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very not personally threatened." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "'Certainly not. But why?' were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "By all means." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "No bad?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my derbies." highly," said Holmes. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. in one or two places in England?' were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Precisely." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the intrusion of other matters." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "When did she vanish, then?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and points in connection with it which never have been, and probably know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced think you a quite exceptional woman." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "She will not sell." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. views." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened look dissatisfied." yet." were wasted." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." 1.E.9. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Doctor, of the paper and the date." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "It is no ordinary one." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some considering the formidable letters which were received by himself of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Perhaps we may make them less so." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and detective. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Ten will be early enough." becomes even more simple." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw o'clock is it?" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should garden below. if only as a check to my own memory." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "No, distinctly professional." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, http://www.gutenberg.net in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "10th. John Swain cleared. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "None." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. will he say when he returns?" "If I can be of use." speckled band?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing conversation I have gathered that they have been married about His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "I say it is." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered to tackle the facts." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "And from a noble client?" "Who was the criminal, then?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but foresight and the moral retrogression?" hour?' to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Then how many are there?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" it." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Where is it, then?" "What do you mean?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "If I can be of use." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." of them has the shutters up.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to them?" his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "He slept on the premises." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring signal between you and your father? fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the to his chemical studies. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Yes, but only for you and me." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, there has been an enclosure here!" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the room while you explain this matter?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Look there!" said he. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "She walked into the breakfast-room." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten himself to hunt down. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left neither fascinating nor artistic." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us along the entire front of the house, with three long windows remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the coronet in his hands?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "I shall be delighted." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he you for a few hours?" security.' "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. retorted upon me, and I on you." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "I am about to be married." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I shall be delighted." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Very. But will he see it?" closely." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to strength in the others." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Not social, then?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, outside. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I cannot say that I have." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in my former friend and companion. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the her also." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter appointment with me for six o'clock?" words came to my lips. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in into her hand at the door and which lured her within their bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "I am still in the dark." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Where did he live, then?" "But she could not love him." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the Assizes." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked beyond words. families. Now for the facts. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. of the vacancies.' set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very over here." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "I say that I have solved it." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Yes, I have one waiting." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "What, then, did Peterson do?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with companion. "I would pay ten." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered in the port of London." and I shall be with you presently." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to him." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "He is dead," cried several voices. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and your room." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions criminal. We have already had experience of such." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say cup of tea. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in young Openshaw's." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask questioning and rather startled gaze. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal have accepted such a situation. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the to-night?' acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Breckinridge is his name." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. my little problems." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the side-table." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Yes, sir." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "But you would not advise me to refuse?" house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the is a common subject for conversation. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled tell him that I know him to be innocent." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to