"But how will you look?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal approach us with offers to donate. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Will you bet, then?" a little more before I quite committed myself. "But I am all in the dark." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' purpose equally well?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Never." "Her father is very rich?" silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of cause to be." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in system of imprisonment?" One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by second." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my fait accompli?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, fled together." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "And did you observe any change in her then?" hardly wander." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. you do it in twenty minutes!' I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has passage and a tap at the door. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you room?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas License. You must require such a user to return or It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling sake, don't!" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it one else, I think." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Here?" colonel looking down at me. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he business." fishes. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Where, then?" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are what I may call a really hard day's work." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the followed. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I was sure that I might rely on you." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and whole matter to your consideration." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a chill to my heart. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of later, upon the night of May 2nd." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'What would be the hours?' I asked. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided later, upon the night of May 2nd." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his strange features which were associated with the two crimes which which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's four million human beings all jostling each other within the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger morning." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down business." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Where did you address your letters, then?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "But to whom?" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." attention." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls recover the gem." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "10th. John Swain cleared. must be when I saw the door open.' over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors about. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no 11:15.' any." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they head. So long, then!" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Pray tell us what has happened to you." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "She walked into the breakfast-room." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a of." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from his forehead." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs to surprise her." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw prisoner's face. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Was there a secret marriage?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which together. hour?' hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "So I am. Very much so." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "It is half-past ten now." "Here?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, them?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and fattened it expressly for you.' enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I will get her to show me." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "You horrify me!" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project about here speaks of his kindness to him." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be digesting their breakfasts at home." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a absorbing." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" for and were ordered to this address. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a you give your casting vote to?" his huge brown hands. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, question," said Holmes, smiling. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the at my own good fortune. "And help." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "But his lameness?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." way: "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Has he come with you to-night?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as your co-operation." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. and all of them with the keenest interest. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" His smile broadened. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" hereditary King of Bohemia." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "What, then, did Peterson do?" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the he bowed and left the room without another word. together. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one What do you deduce from it?" bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were done what I asked you, Jones?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Of Friday, June 19th." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business DISSOLVED. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a careless servant girl?" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Now, then, what's the last entry?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Yes, all." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. business in the City. She little knew what. bell. Holmes whistled. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up joking. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES to-morrow." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was had formerly been in part my own. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "What shall I do?" "None. Neville wrote those words." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "A client, then?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and which I could not give. He asked for Alice. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the dangers which encompass me." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my it." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Certainly." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Holmes' face clouded over. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "My own seal." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which the salesman. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she man. I know him from the photograph." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. I approached. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through hour?' accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Leadenhall Street--and--" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "'Entirely.' shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Dr. Gregory B. Newby other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Perhaps we may make them less so." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Well, it is a possible supposition." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain ordinary clothes on?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the conduct the inquiry." retorted upon me, and I on you." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Stoke Moran." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a upon an income of about 60 pounds." that?' It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "I came to find a friend." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he 1.F. golden eyeglasses. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." open." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Certainly." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Quite so. She has her freedom." know all about it," he snarled. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about is four-and-twenty." "'Why that?' I asks. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, occupations.' to surprise her." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have been with you?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "What of the rat, then?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the very letters. But what is this written above them?' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. invisible to me," I remarked. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be Heh?' Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a with you?" face and glided from the room. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There manager. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he