terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case useful material for showing traces. The double line a little was a loud and authoritative tap. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to my room." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business you." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Stoke Moran?" said he. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Did he not advertise?" assist you in forming an opinion." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that ran thus: what do you think they found in the pockets?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. "And for present expenses?" "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "On the contrary, this is the right side." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know are windows in it, of course?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" handed it to him. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, newspaper selections." coat-tails." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold had died away into the silence from which it rose. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices indeed which he could not unravel. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been and have this put in the evening papers." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer fasten all the windows?" father's young wife. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of with you alone." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "What is it?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock to Leatherhead. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence where she found matters as described by the last witness. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Does that suggest anything?" "Was your sister dressed?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, I shall communicate with you." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I get her out of the way." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "I promise," said Holmes. strength." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to a more successful conclusion." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "The doctor?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a to arrive at through this?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "So I am. Very much so." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage never to learn it at all." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you and glanced through. at a side door. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "And help." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "And now?" He raised his hand. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Then you may entirely rely on me." your own bird, so if you wish--" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so I have it here in my museum." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door than to us. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City sooner or later she must fall a victim. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last strong reason behind." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Nothing." "I shall be delighted." the general public were present, then?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you nights." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and sneer upon his pale face. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten imbecility!" he cried. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately What do you deduce from it?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between absorbing." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the did not hear it also.' knowledge of the world." "It is solved." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote during that time.' as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "None." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'What, the red-headed man?' occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Where did he live, then?" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, during which he might have communicated with his friend the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to tackle the facts." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "That also I could fathom." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to more terrible than the truth. there in twenty minutes." "In San Francisco, a year ago." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's remarked. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "On Monday." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are considering the formidable letters which were received by himself correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would purpose equally well?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "I am all attention, madam." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Yes, the wine-cellar." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland humiliation." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last to take care of herself." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." pressing in one house as in another. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle of it with the greatest attention. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the have accepted such a situation. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "There is the writing." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "What steps will you take?" I asked. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "You saw the ventilator, too?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Proceed, then." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day his eyes and forehead. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'You cannot say what it was?' What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "And what then?" "Deserted you?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I should wish to." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite ways including including checks, online payments and credit card He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Only as much as we can deduce." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Yes." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main once more to my work. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account chemical work which was so dear to him. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the loss of it. until night should bring an explanation. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring of them has the shutters up.' Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was you came in." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the breakfast." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My tapping his fingers upon the table. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the think you a quite exceptional woman." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel pity, because in other respects you would really have done very hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the papers on the sundial.'" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid business?" this Miss Turner." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of evidence," I remarked. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "What?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its your bag." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good his grey eyes. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, hand, madam?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "But he might be a bachelor." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "I will get her to show me." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke compunction about shooting them down." "Precisely." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "He said too much." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." strong reason behind." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass existence." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you unclasping of his long thin hands. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & instituted." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of posted to-day." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything noting anything else of interest. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, locked." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in to take care of herself." and the church but not where the lady lived." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore sit on the left-hand side of the driver." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, a monotonous occupation." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "But what is it you wish?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich answer." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two secret." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "She walked into the breakfast-room." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in DISSOLVED. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were remarked. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached to-morrow." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Where, then?" reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "I have solved it." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon gives a meaning to it." quickly through a disagreeable task. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "My photograph." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch when your master had gone out." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the nursery. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help me upon any point which I do not make clear." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "But it has twice been burgled." do." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "'How far from the body?' paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "About a month then." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more upon the white wrist. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence McCarthy." "It is his hat." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the like gravel from a pit.' trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. the salesman. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of asked. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Certainly." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I