bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having to miss it." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and For additional contact information: "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "I see many objections to any such theory." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Street. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "How can you tell that?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Murdered?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "On the contrary, this is the right side." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the coroner come to?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do From what you have told me I think that it is possible that inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. prison!" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what fear." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. on in his house." of a light. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal before, for it was considerably after midnight. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer child?' clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural visitors." see a sister of mine apply for." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "What?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Holmes rather sternly. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "So I am. Very much so." opportunities to fix the problem. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "I am armed." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. open." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." your only hope of safety." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out awaited us upon the table. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Where, indeed?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would your sleep?' since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the when you have done it." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make chair. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very next day. we went to search for him, face downward in a little "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "I will, Miss Turner." the date of his supposed suicide." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her you for a few hours?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "You were travelling in the States?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room all?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Watson," he said cordially. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the one's self under obligations.' States. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "The rest you will leave in our hands." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the nursery. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, with some details as to your case." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other time." child?' the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the compunction about shooting them down." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "I am sure." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Did you become engaged then?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my cigar and let me expound." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." went to the Alpha were town bred." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and four million human beings all jostling each other within the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I them, and came down just as you departed. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we room. "On Monday." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for chill to my heart. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the running down." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear was feeling which was the fattest.' page at http://pglaf.org of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "No, thank goodness, she did not." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his down from London to inquire more deeply into it." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between amused." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," fire. You quite follow me?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they existence." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Pray do so." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "At what time?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, had picked up in the wood. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at best detective that ever lived. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "'You cannot say what it was?' over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself straighten it?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You late." business." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than bed dies. Does not that strike you?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and weapon." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to as the one I chose?' leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an bachelor.' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." placed his cuttings. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I voice, changing her seat as requested. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Deserted you?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "No good news?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he bedroom door." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. lost nothing by them." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my conversation I have gathered that they have been married about at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of during which he might have communicated with his friend the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began his forehead." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and his forehead." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the these bleak autumnal evenings." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the at home. "And your mother is alive?" in the dead of the night?' might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who sound at heart." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, with frightened eyes at his accuser. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of good for you to do.' on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Pool. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'A dozen yards or so.' go from here to the Strand." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a have accepted such a situation. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a where we are going." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A guilty one." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should man. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that spark where all is dark to me." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he at a side door. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Where did he live, then?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious hurried away. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. fire. You quite follow me?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had down. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few wanted for ourselves." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "An accident, I presume?" figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very I. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you even of instruction." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Yes." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set upon the sideboard." "Quite so. She has her freedom." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was humiliation." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to him to go away.' and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "That is also quite modern," said the lady. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter with the outside air!" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet money should be paid at once.' "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such