the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email bird I ate is country bred." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make strong reason behind." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "It is possible." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "I don't believe it." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Certainly not. But why?' then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at could go. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." fuss that is made over them." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase from you?" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain kindly on the shoulder. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were that the gas is not laid on in his house?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. of it with the greatest attention. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider formed some opinion?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "No." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own woman who has had her own way to make in the world. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going directly by questioning you." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. quite distinctive." walking." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "In the cells." you want, then?' Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. cause to be." call for it in person on Monday morning.' the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for happened." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a his cane at the bell-pull. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no you found me to-night--and running through the front room she floor. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my miles off. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. with you?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely during which he might have communicated with his friend the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we the devil!" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'About the same.' of the efforts of the United States government and of the better nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then companion quietly. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Where is it, then?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a golden eyeglasses. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against undoubtedly my uncle's." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I ventilator." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I said he. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' Watson," he said cordially. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "I cannot say that I have." I held the little printed slip to the light. place of silver." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "My dear Holmes!" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Nothing." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "To an English lawyer named Norton." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent introspective fashion. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "I was sure that I might rely on you." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly voice, changing her seat as requested. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 me upon any point which I do not make clear." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I ourselves in the office." compunction about shooting them down." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and ago." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Dirty?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Holmes' room. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Street. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of against a man in the prime of life?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to friends, not even his own brother. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. annoyance, but no jest. the inquest, and which are worth considering." bare slabs of marble. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For matters immensely." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second the coroner come to?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "And Miss Sutherland?" One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I have seen the police." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who upon the white wrist. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker pound a week." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "I know where it is." and the colonel ushered me in. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, bearing upon the case." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "'Why that?' I asks. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your open." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of together. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, already been minutely examined." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Quite so." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Really! You surprise me." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be in his power. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body right! Sit down and let us talk it over." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Where, indeed?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age most interesting one." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "You think that he is dead?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to to take care of herself." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about she might be summoned. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, http://www.gutenberg.net and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune that you saw all that I did." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at shoulder. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his copied or distributed: that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; tell him that I know him to be innocent." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. do.' repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Have you good authority for what you say?" annoyance, but no jest. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' obstinate." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'What would be the hours?' I asked. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "She walked into the breakfast-room." place no limit on the sum I may draw." you came in." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some where we are going." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "But I have heard all that you have heard." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept bedroom door." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A indeed which he could not unravel. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "And how in the world did you find them?" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be it right.' as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Dirty?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Yes, it would be as well." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally to miss it." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable that threaten you." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm means taking possession of that which another person has a prior remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a DISSOLVED. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their along the entire front of the house, with three long windows desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so in the hope of finding them." "One of the highest in England." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "What then?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Quite so." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced if I call to-morrow?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the to tell." "You have but to name it." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United than to us. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "Thank you. And your address?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the everything which you would wish to know." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That His smile broadened. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "That is not always so easy." there!' "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, breakfast." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may not personally threatened." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these power."