which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the shall not find me ungrateful." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Nothing." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside weigh very heavily upon my conscience." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make ways of our fellow-men." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "She told me to ask you." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and and a shock of very red hair. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Did you observe the colour?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Not him." "No." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Very murderous indeed." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, come either from the window or the door. My attention was my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. rooms." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I detective. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was his eyes and forehead. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in secret." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk third from London." up this clue while it is still hot." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was are, I think, all that we need." telegram would bring me down to your help." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can know what is wrong with it.' "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "It is very kind of you." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a John Swain, of St. Augustine. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Not in the least." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I this man was intellectual?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" do.' Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "That you are never beaten." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I on in his house." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune examine." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to indiscretion." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." anything to do with the matter?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "If so, much may have happened between." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided II. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we strong reason behind." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. and no precautions can guard against." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Ah, but I was recommended to you." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands a good hundred miles off by now." "An accident, I presume?" said he. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love there in twenty minutes." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "You have carte blanche." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "My stepfather's business papers." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "But she could not love him." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is if only as a check to my own memory." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "And you can do nothing until then?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. cigar and let me expound." touch that coronet?' my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open leaning back in his chair. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." he bowed and left the room without another word. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "My private note-paper." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "I do." man. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most my room." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm do you make of it all?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my congratulate you again." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll said he. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. his fortune, and I went back to pa. man. I know him from the photograph." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the bill, which interests me deeply." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is assist you in forming an opinion." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander keep the flames under. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "You have a clue?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "But to whom?" head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the served to weaken the effect. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both bachelor.' have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "A client, then?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Very much so." "But to whom?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I was sure that I might rely on you." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "I should wish to." bell. Holmes whistled. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them this as likely?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to forebodings. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes hopeless attempt at recovering them." I shall communicate with you." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "I see many objections to any such theory." "We must have a cab." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the matter." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried then?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a thirty. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather unprecedented a position." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "The Cedars?" ceremony." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Do you receive much company?" he asked. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Yes." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much lamp. bearing upon the case." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his not, dad?" she asked. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Munro.' "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "No bad?" How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to outside." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "But the mystery?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither this man was intellectual?" emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your up this clue while it is still hot." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate since then to throw any light upon what became of him." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have flock.' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. past. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'I shall certainly be there.' of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely in my life." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl washing it down with a long draught of water. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our go back?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Then the page we have seen--" "Well." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here third from London." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "And why in hopes?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "But who is he?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Of Friday, June 19th." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Won't it ring?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Look there!" said he. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such bell. Holmes whistled. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "But you can know nothing of this?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off over here." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Farm upon the left." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent and prosperity to your house. Good-night." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "In the cells." "It is very clear." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES acted in my house last night?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "What is it?" lost his Christmas dinner." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'You doubt its value?' he asked. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. someone who had been in Australia." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose