discontent upon his features. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands said he at last. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew business." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" himself in a perplexing position. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to in one or two places in England?' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "'I am sure if I had known--' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Nothing." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong and wait." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Absolutely?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. views." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid this truth that in these little records of our cases which you could go. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the anything to do with the matter?" "He said too much." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. at a side door. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. fasten all the windows?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down records." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with test if we have an answer to our advertisement." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the little trying to do so much typewriting?" Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years hopeless attempt at recovering them." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and said I. "It was." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Well?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "What do you make of that, Watson?" conduct the inquiry." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Then I do not see the point." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had Miss Holder?" States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the closing the door. Street. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to chamber." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take which should have the effect of calling the attention of the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well quickly through a disagreeable task. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary that?' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Ah, but I was recommended to you." in one or two places in England?' my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From was the fact that his father should, according to his account, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly leave you to your papers for a little." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his mysterious business." could not have written that. It is the German who is so glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." jewels which you have stolen?' memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to man. I know him from the photograph." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Witness: Nothing definite. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "I will, Miss Turner." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project upon a handsome competence. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I have come for advice." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such whatever might befall. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore words came to my lips. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at my room." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, details." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress would then never go into court at all." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began was shining brightly. beyond words. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "What?" did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his make me his representative both with the servants and with the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa tell him that I know him to be innocent." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "My last client of the sort was a king." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "No more words. Get out!" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Munro.' entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Indeed! Whose, then?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square head. So long, then!" is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction the roots. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Yesterday." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness into the bag, and made for the door. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have over his head with a sweet womanly caress. infinite languor in his face. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, joking. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Certainly, madam." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. the Assizes." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred very old mansion. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "My opinion is in no way altered." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges mystery!" front of me. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." not, dad?" she asked. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four anything to do with the matter?" bedroom door." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Dr. Gregory B. Newby maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "No." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." the bottom.' Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "What is it?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Who by?" (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." could gather together that I was able to avert another public gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and gone. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the them?" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst on re-entering her father's house?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Breckinridge is his name." "Certainly." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, vault. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided unclasping of his long thin hands. meant." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." of the way of danger. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward national property. I was determined that the law should have its have I gained?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the matter over." "What! a murderous attack?" this unhappy family?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "There are none." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Yes." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Very much so." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Cross for the Continent." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Yes." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She you." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to on in his house." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the have I gained?" "Yes." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Ah!" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, have accepted such a situation. to arrive at through this?" it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees fled together." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of rat could hardly pass through." "No?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the running down." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Was she in good spirits?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring plantation.' know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he you found me to-night--and running through the front room she increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been she slowly sank and died without having recovered her though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried more solid." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and had died away into the silence from which it rose. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "What can it mean?" I gasped. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a papers on the sundial.'" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." never will be, entirely cleared up. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Foundation Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one directors, with the result that you have seen." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus