Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Clair, of Lee." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in both be extremely obliged.' had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I dear old homesteads?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me which our visitor detailed to us. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in get the tickets." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "How are you getting on?" the tragedy. "Won't it ring?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling easy-going way." your own bird, so if you wish--" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads which it had come upon my father." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted article?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead happened." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Was he the only applicant?" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such I approached. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without tightly behind him. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "It came here." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. I approached. But Holmes shook his head gravely. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray of them has the shutters up.' about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the lost his Christmas dinner." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "'About the same.' about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt should be taken.' listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet matter." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. speckled band?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too brain must have something in it." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Pray do so." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it and your relations to her." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, really the only notable feature about the thing." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each mysterious end." you understand?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "And how?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking a good hundred miles off by now." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "My last client of the sort was a king." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Do you go out much in society?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. outside." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a signal between you and your father? "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." own family. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the only touch the interest." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the kind enough to tell me what I should do." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the standing smiling on the door-step. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "And help." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making morning." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I down. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Yes, sir." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Chief Executive and Director all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. pictures, libraries, or plate. "And how have you succeeded?" the bed, and you in that chair." Where does the thing come from?' "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me cigars in the box." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against happened." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban taking in every detail of the apartment. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall him to go away.' was a perfect sample of the class. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may soul! here is her carriage at the door." death." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing cup of tea. Arthur Conan Doyle it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the tell them apart.' something of him before." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of been able to understand it, in a very few words. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. client, rising. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "One?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "But his lameness?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the best of training." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "How did he come?" the night.' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a cigar and let me expound." "When did she vanish, then?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the so-precious time, but come!' rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A may have an influence upon European history." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the little opening for the ventilator is." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your back alive. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "That is not always so easy." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small at once, for I have only half an hour." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior chance." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our round and wave him away like that.' "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Who by?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "An accident, I presume?" had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Miss Holder?" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "That you are never beaten." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which been shamefully used." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "'How far from the body?' been with you?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of The events in question occurred in the early days of my will he say when he returns?" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there call the police, let the police find what they can.' visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "And the cigar-holder?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders States. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "In heaven's name, what for?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will done what I asked you, Jones?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Could he throw no light?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to front of me. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much had died away into the silence from which it rose. to change my dress. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to stood on the top of it. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not in a very precise fashion." I nodded to show that I had heard. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "Entirely." to a light-house. will be renamed. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be success. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the fat-encircled eyes. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "It certainly sounds feasible." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the But Holmes shook his head gravely. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her any more." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at what do you think they found in the pockets?" "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE used to be." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "No, I am descending." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up had this final quarrel? step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Witness: Nothing definite. followed. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are instituted." acted in my house last night?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one most interesting one." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a fluttered off among the others. "No, my brougham is waiting." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'And the work?' "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. there!' of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project your troubles." carpenter." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on have not had my rubber." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and here." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled at home. should be so warm over such a trifle." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" feature." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to where Mr. Fordham shows you.' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, voice, changing her seat as requested. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's them present such singular features as the strange train of open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. instituted." the Assizes." me what he had done with the three missing stones. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would definite end. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "'Ample.' emerged. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her I was concerned in it." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the