was not a bird to be seen there. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone minor matters until to-morrow." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that bird of prey. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "I am all attention, madam." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do charged with?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss security.' McCarthy's innocence. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "I should wish to." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of Holmes. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "It is true that I have been generally successful." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were country, and eventually married, without anyone having a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, I have it here in my museum." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "I assure you that I am in your hands." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in leave you to your papers for a little." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. learned something! Where are the gems?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' walking." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I gives a meaning to it." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" as yours." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, beyond words. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose meant." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "None." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me night.' said he. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried tension within him. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "It must be recovered." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "That is also quite modern," said the lady. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a later, upon the night of May 2nd." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "No legal papers or certificates?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Absolutely?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on spark where all is dark to me." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been his grey eyes. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself purpose of examination. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Then the page we have seen--" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his guilty one." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in has little to do with my story." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the of the vacancies.' stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "You have carte blanche." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all mystery!" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either children over to America with him, so that I found myself without expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was introspective fashion. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would galvanised. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'About the same.' his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I infinite languor in his face. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon may have an influence upon European history." "In what way?" asked Holmes. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I am to be neutral?" as this. Pray let me have the details." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I my friend's incisive reasoning. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Of what day?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Yes." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp Henry Baker is a member." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we business matters.' "I never have." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Pray do so." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only that there was nothing in it, after all." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Sholtos." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Dr. Becher's." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly bill, which interests me deeply." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." awkward doing business with an alias." certainly do as you advise." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Yes, that is the Crown." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness until night should bring an explanation. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." conduct the inquiry." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & not use it unless it is absolutely needed." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His were wasted." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing of campaign. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you in a very precise fashion." "No, finished." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "You are certainly joking, Holmes." to some other building. "One of his hands." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "'Never,' said I. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old had picked up in the wood. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you helping a boy to put up the shutters. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, of your young ladies.' set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to gives a meaning to it." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, was a lad." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the purpose equally well?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and shall probably return to London by the evening train." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With appeared upon the scene." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "He disappeared so suddenly." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is were unconscious?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "On the contrary, this is the right side." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." to a light-house. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "'Entirely.' "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in in. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot of a light. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be come either from the window or the door. My attention was see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole and the colonel ushered me in. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. purpose of examination. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she fire. You quite follow me?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' stammered. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "That is also quite modern," said the lady. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was in a friendly supper." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Very much so." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the will not take me long to tell. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "How on earth--" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he newspaper selections." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "'As governess?' "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I for and were ordered to this address. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no man. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt unkempt, staring out at me. through." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "But of what society?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been observed. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that everything which you would wish to know." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Certainly." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three whatever might befall. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly like that before?" Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. hopeless attempt at recovering them." "But what harm can there be in that?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution to have been novel and of interest." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of it." "Yes, he did." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Serpentine Avenue. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and of fine shops and stately business premises that they really wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a enter Dr. Roylott's room." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project happened." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. ways of our fellow-men." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. weapon." to tackle the facts." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Never." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Dark enough and sinister enough." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "9th. McCauley cleared. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "How did you deduce the select?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the he bowed and left the room without another word. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second and put his glass in his pocket. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first tell him that I know him to be innocent." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What have you done?" asked Holmes. plantation.' showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. best detective that ever lived. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Serpentine Avenue. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in