"Quite so." "And you don't know his address?" nice household for a young lady." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we better in every way that they should make their position a little generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, knowledge of the world." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Who was the criminal, then?" "Has he come with you to-night?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Yes." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My locked. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the child." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Then how many are there?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his begun to whiten, even as mine has." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Yes." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this answered with a sidelong glance. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Indeed! Whose, then?" "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. colonel looking down at me. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw papers." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Why serious?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right plantation.' had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of mysterious end." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "What I expected to see." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Then what has happened to him?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one some city in a dream. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "And why?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was clanging. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally carriage. It was a chestnut." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "I have come for advice." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, letters?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but McCarthy's innocence. "Really! You surprise me." and looked back. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire was keenly on my guard against him. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "By train from Waterloo." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At seem to you to be relevant or not." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Nothing?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. has little to do with my story." "It is half-past ten now." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white papers must be those that are destroyed.' of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I past. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "No, finished." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else stood on the top of it. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, horse could go." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave in him." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "'I am sure that I do not know.' to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with hour?' and wait." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a not personally threatened." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly during the last few years, and there are many noble families to coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." forecastle of an emigrant ship. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Nothing." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind said he. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never electronic works "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "She walked into the breakfast-room." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "And did you observe any change in her then?" "That is not always so easy." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not is four-and-twenty." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Then how many are there?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have your most interesting statement." business in the City. She little knew what. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'How far from the body?' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to on in his house." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Holmes' thin, eager face. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "You think so, too?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. papers." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "And why in hopes?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you to-night?" I asked. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with already referred to. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Yes." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit fuss that is made over them." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & was feeling which was the fattest.' steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "I cannot think." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could future lives." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at when your master had gone out." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources walking." pierced for earrings?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked hair?' even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in through." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way other lovers by making love himself." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "He disappeared so suddenly." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he chance at all." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a written. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear be.' "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' relief. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "On the contrary, this is the right side." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. the little opening for the ventilator is." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. I shall communicate with you." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck highly," said Holmes. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Just look it up, then." to-night." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that returning from some small jollification and was making his way have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "That you are never beaten." "Have you her photograph?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a events, Mr. Windibank!" "Of what day?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar definite end. jewels which you have stolen?' great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Come in!" said he. "One of the highest in England." "One?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly I shall continue with my miserable story. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that answered with a sidelong glance. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "That is not always so easy." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "What then?" disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Certainly." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she questioning and rather startled gaze. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Where could I find him?' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already in the dead of the night?' separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from recall any case within my experience which looked at the first another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I am sure." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET unkempt, staring out at me. "Has he come with you to-night?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." remarked. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "You saw the ventilator, too?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into voice, changing her seat as requested. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "It's nothing of the kind." returned to France?" get the tickets." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "On Monday." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Well?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very my little problems." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough lamp. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector undoubtedly my uncle's." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and what I may call a really hard day's work." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I October 9, 1890. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco which should have the effect of calling the attention of the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Was your sister dressed?" "Married! When?" showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" me." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Who was the criminal, then?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small place of silver." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he if only as a check to my own memory." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still jewels which you have stolen?' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in way in everything. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "And how?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a to miss it."