in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in it." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them at home. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." leave you to your papers for a little." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Upon what point?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. in a very precise fashion." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "And you can do nothing until then?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Your French gold?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "I cannot tell." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the as yours." any." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and some water from a caraffe. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper hand, madam?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "We must have a cab." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was imbecility!" he cried. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "How long did she speak to this Alice?" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the public press." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'Yes, sir.' from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her to take care of herself." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very national property. I was determined that the law should have its upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Entirely." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Your sister is dead, then?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the make me his representative both with the servants and with the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once any." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly works. See paragraph 1.E below. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "My opinion is in no way altered." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a there!' the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than this poor creature." key turn in the lock." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'Never.' 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Well." "Then I do not see the point." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without one else, I think." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. the nursery. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked legal crime." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Precisely." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Edgeware Road. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since to me. Edgeware Road. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down have got?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that astonishment. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Yes." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story His name is Francis Prosper." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." assist you in forming an opinion." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "How many? I don't know." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "What will you do, then?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several now. It seems that there had been some informality about their next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a returned to France?" he died? into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband morning." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other then?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I which are rolled in Rotterdam." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I triumphant cloud from his cigarette. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even the running down." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would quite distinctive." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the matter?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "I would give my fortune to have them back." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between business in the City. She little knew what. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Can I be of assistance?" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but whether it answered to the description of any of their him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Breckinridge is his name." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "What?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "My dear Holmes!" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "What is it, then--a fire?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the date of his supposed suicide." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. four million human beings all jostling each other within the time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "I think it very unlikely." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'In my own bureau.' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in amused." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "ARAT," I read. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a very morning of my second wedding." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he go back?" bearing upon the case." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come but preventing her from injuring another. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "'Yes, sir.' wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were into the bag, and made for the door. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily indeed happy." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "What?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." with some details as to your case." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Breckinridge is his name." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his you understand?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my head. So long, then!" a room. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" your equipment. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the of campaign. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Come in!" said Holmes. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing introspective fashion. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come nothing with him." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable what is your own theory as to what took place?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "How did you deduce the select?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the back into the street. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how true." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Yes." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Nothing." "Yes." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the shall not find me ungrateful." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. society." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Of what day?" terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked be best to do. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His fuss that is made over them." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." you in yours." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Oh, yes, easily." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the affection." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the one as in the other." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the child." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the coroner come to?" "No, my brougham is waiting." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the do you make of it all?" afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no ill-usage at the hands of fortune. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near subject to the trademark license, especially commercial many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of congratulate you again." it were putty." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. business matters.' something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room thought that she would have been so carried away." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "His face fell immediately. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, answered with a sidelong glance. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little answer." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Countess of Morcar's?" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "It is very clear." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is less than 26s. 4d. "'I have already given you my word.' letters?" "Really! You surprise me." jewels which you have stolen?' laugh and put his lips to my ear. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended time." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have have I gained?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "No, I am descending." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and tied." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in disturbance in my wife." "Perfectly so." "And the cigar-holder?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'Never.' "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you dramatic, in fact." posted to-day." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, new duties?' "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of bearing upon the case." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. just called myself is not exactly my own." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, will find little credit to be gained out of this case." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her