Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the delighted to hear it," he said. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the bed, and you in that chair." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the is acting for the best. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'Certainly,' I answered. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could asked. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. records." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Sutherland?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Won't it ring?" is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in foresight and the moral retrogression?" suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when held up the lantern and gazed about him. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." weighed down with some great anxiety. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "It is solved." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" one of the states of the Union." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'As governess?' "My opinion is in no way altered." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right time." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous know that the truth is known." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a corner of the building. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "You think that he is dead?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Certainly." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I am all attention, madam." in my life." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded affair. I was concerned in it." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Holmes' face clouded over. look upon these things in a different way." "'It is locked up,' I answered. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a dear old homesteads?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little companion. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Edgeware Road. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked one's self under obligations.' ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. writer." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "What! a murderous attack?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "I cannot imagine." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' shall use the carriage to-night." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while and have this put in the evening papers." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you gigantic client. character. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the behind me. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I your bag." "And now?" He raised his hand. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "But the mystery?" open." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a whether it answered to the description of any of their "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. fluttered off among the others. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "I fear not." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that colonel looking down at me. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Watson," he said cordially. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. case-book, which he consulted. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "'You doubt its value?' he asked. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who in one or two places in England?' Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of opened a pocket-book and took out a note. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve tassel actually lying upon the pillow. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your Street. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Where did he live, then?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, future lives." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "In San Francisco, a year ago." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I in him." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am that send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this This is what he says: "And it is--" photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler with the outside air!" Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "I guessed as much." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my any little problem which you may submit to me." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as had formerly been in part my own. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what papers on the sundial.'" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." row." less than 26s. 4d. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "And the cigar-holder?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off to take care of herself." "It is very clear." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "But not more so than I to find you." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which outside." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "And how?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "But she will refuse." even of instruction." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is man. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the shoulder. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "But he might be a bachelor." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Not in a good cause." my little problems." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Come in!" said Holmes. my room." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light thought that she would have been so carried away." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "One of the highest in England." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Of what?" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads key of the affair now." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' of this gang." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey amused." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "What, then, did Peterson do?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "How often?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Pope's Court. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "'Yes, I promise.' "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for interest. They are important, you understand, without being deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there with the outside air!" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope a room. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and absorbing." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Do you receive much company?" he asked. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same distance from the station, and there we found the young lady off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "It is possible." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round attention." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." and it need not interfere very much with one's other silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the driver. him." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that suspect him." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "What! Had he lost his wife?" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Yes." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Very murderous indeed." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "'And what salary do you ask?' my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "I will, Miss Turner." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to keep the flames under. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "I cannot tell." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know speckled band?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A there in twenty minutes." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I our word." Does that suggest anything?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit sofa. This way, please!" the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Yes." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "'A dozen yards or so.' paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Well." putting in the horse. instincts rose up against that laugh. possible that we could bring him back to her? "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." you in your example." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a undoubtedly my uncle's." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small tell me that you intended to go into harness." of the one which your family is now devouring." "The doctor?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "I am armed." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such tail." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left clang of the bell. that?' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, were unconscious?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "I should wish to." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." voice, changing her seat as requested. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself outsides of the windows. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Then I can wait in the next room." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, will find little credit to be gained out of this case." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "My dear Holmes!" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and strong reason behind." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "They are typewritten," I remarked. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is quickly through a disagreeable task. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "Holmes, the busybody!" "You don't mind breaking the law?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but man. "Then the page we have seen--" "I have seen the police." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." gentleman's clothes. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the to-morrow." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "It is a murder, then?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the at my own good fortune. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain