"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Certainly." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted row." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and could gather together that I was able to avert another public like gravel from a pit.' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold had a long day." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the respectable self." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'I have heard so.' other, as fresh and trim as possible. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Game for a morning drive?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge both be extremely obliged.' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and ready to-morrow?' "Precisely so. But how--" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "At half-wages, in fact." "How did you deduce the select?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, unprofitable." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." any little problem which you may submit to me." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "In what way?" asked Holmes. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our mystery may be cleared along those lines." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the bottom.' valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Perhaps I have." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "'Certainly,' I answered. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and Pope's Court. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards few hundred pounds.' 'please.'" nonsense.' "'Then let me do so?' "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" his huge brown hands. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "On Monday." lost nothing by them." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your guilty parties." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and was used.' "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Yes, at the mines." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a to tackle the facts." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "How often?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he out of this horrible affair." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Not social, then?" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "What! You do not mean bodies?" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Yes." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such events than those which have happened in my own family." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the peculiar to him. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the coronet at all injured?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me acquaintance?" on re-entering her father's house?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely McCarthy's innocence. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit speckled band?" think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, that he has suffered." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Was there a secret marriage?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole not, dad?" she asked. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the his wife has ceased to love him." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would What do you deduce from it?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most second window is the one that I jumped from." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "It was an hour's good drive." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, empty. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'Ample.' unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the this unhappy family?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate page at http://pglaf.org "My own seal." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Then I shall certainly come." within hail.' product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great and no precautions can guard against." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after to-morrow." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after You can understand that this register and diary may implicate in darkness. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' fishes. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that fluttered off among the others. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "You will not go there first?" the Red-headed League." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax behind me. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "You have carte blanche." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Stoke Moran." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "One horse?" interjected Holmes. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies own family. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, could go. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for it with his own hands." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, hands. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money foot. up this clue while it is still hot." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "That is easily got." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the house with me." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "It is very kind of you." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble article?" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed daring than any effort of the imagination." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have late!' "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." persecution?" "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "He slept on the premises." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Holmes' room. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with States. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the down. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' opened a pocket-book and took out a note. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Dr. Becher's." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "You have the photograph?" walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared joking. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "It is his hat." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Quite so. She has her freedom." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal carpenter." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped chill to my heart. said I. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, his grey eyes. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our in a friendly supper." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper business in the City. She little knew what. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange me upon any point which I do not make clear." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set who was a member of your goose club." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if becomes even more simple." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them bachelor.' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly standing smiling on the door-step. "I am about to be married." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked said he. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to purpose of examination. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of voice. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, ventilator." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue cause to be." that corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other and prosperity to your house. Good-night." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the is worth.' main points of my analysis." fishes. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many hour?' necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Well?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Where, indeed?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its you?' forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the outbreak?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.