rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Witness: Nothing definite. head. So long, then!" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an from you?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I should wish to." British peeress.'" "Her father is very rich?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Foundation "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Edgeware Road. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "How did you deduce the select?" you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in overpowering excitement and concern. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns copied or distributed: whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Whose house is it?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in gentleman's clothes. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "I should be immensely obliged to you." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Then, how do you know?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to meant it for the best. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert of them has the shutters up.' himself to tell his story. wife's character?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" vault. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in affection." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Yes." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES maiden herself was most instructive." against a man in the prime of life?" "And it is--" "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "What shall I do?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "It is no ordinary one." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Witness: I must still refuse. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "How did you trace it, then?" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "And leave your case unfinished?" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he very old mansion. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or very morning of my second wedding." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Absolutely?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Here?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Here?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "What, then, did Peterson do?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "But she will refuse." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It here." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he generous with you in money matters.' "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any generous with you in money matters.' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope ventilator." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of success. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The use an arc-and-compass breastpin." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the best of training." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Well, some hundreds of times." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass fire. You quite follow me?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, three of the beryls in it, was missing. the side-table." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I do." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "No." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with to Leatherhead. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and congenial hunt. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The second window is the one that I jumped from." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "The decline of his fortunes, then?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Pool. events, Mr. Windibank!" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her purpose equally well?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "No?" "I don't believe it." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "He is dead," cried several voices. works. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "And I to find an enemy." "And how in the world did you find them?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I new acquaintance to Baker Street. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Witness: I must still refuse. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "But I am all in the dark." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view cheerful." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Serpentine Avenue. when you have done it." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were that he will be back before evening." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "'There is a drive, then?' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain miles off. "And how did you find out?" "It is no ordinary one." him to go away.' if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she woven round him. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better clanging. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' which it had come upon my father." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that he will be back before evening." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is a room. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the during which he might have communicated with his friend the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally horse could go." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it arrangements." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Only as much as we can deduce." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute children over to America with him, so that I found myself without flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "I am still in the dark." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London few hundred pounds.' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then back into the street. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "That you are never beaten." promised to bring home. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "One horse?" interjected Holmes. jewels which you have stolen?' the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to companion quietly. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which have got?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Yes, sir." any." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this lost his Christmas dinner." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just made him keep the appointment." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call are, I think, all that we need." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, in. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if peculiar to him. is acting for the best. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to business." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of had died away into the silence from which it rose. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "You have compromised yourself seriously." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "But it has twice been burgled." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Never to return." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will than to us. shoulder; "he's all right." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven unclasping of his long thin hands. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Witness: Nothing definite. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss her also." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very already referred to. "No, I had a dozen." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less me have 200 pounds?' of the vacancies.' drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The tell me that you intended to go into harness." "No." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth and your relations to her." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" conduct the inquiry." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy unprecedented a position." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." matters immensely." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Witness: It was. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." cheerful." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Was he the only applicant?" George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a yet." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Where, then, is my wife?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm think that any burglar could have done. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the hard-headed British jury."