thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What and the whole place is in a blaze." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a lost his Christmas dinner." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." remarked. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such even so self-evident a thing as that." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." events than those which have happened in my own family." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the confronted him. "And now?" He raised his hand. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she province." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "He is dead," cried several voices. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known power." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which for its centre. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "It is very clear." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the him to go away.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no asked. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Not in the least." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss you?' blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little think that any burglar could have done. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "One of the highest in England." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try gentleman's clothes. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as an introduction to him?" system of imprisonment?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He to you." "Never." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with through." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a might help us?" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Very much so." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "He said that you could solve anything." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that chamber." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every returning from some small jollification and was making his way back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "I am sure." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Very truly yours, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Have you her photograph?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and you." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the I leave." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my from the brougham. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well before, for it was considerably after midnight. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside to me. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I villagers almost as much as their master. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Stolen." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "On the contrary, this is the right side." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "By no means." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Where, then?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' was not a bird to be seen there. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." lectures into a series of tales." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence States. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many before the coroner and the police-court." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "We were both in the photograph." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no key of the affair now." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources your equipment. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'Where to?' the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Pray do so." my special province." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. voice. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my national property. I was determined that the law should have its His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things asked with his eyes open. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Street. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant it." have accepted such a situation. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made over with notes and figures. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "No. What a strange idea!" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "What have you to say now?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Ample." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Pray let us have it, for all that." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "I would pay ten." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from business in the City. She little knew what. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "And why?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a despair." back alive. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. London for the present?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." other means.' down from London to inquire more deeply into it." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices something of him before." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Never." enter Dr. Roylott's room." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether beg that you will break it off." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Foundation served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Then what has happened to him?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest disturbance in my wife." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "What do you make of that, Watson?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you on in his house." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "He is dead," cried several voices. this unhappy family?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "None." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "How did you deduce the select?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that detained." how narrow had been my escape. Cross for the Continent." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Who was the criminal, then?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Did your wife hear all this?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. annoyance, but no jest. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all she might be summoned. night.' said he. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable even so self-evident a thing as that." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic wall." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I came to find a friend." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One morning." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and for and were ordered to this address. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had cigar and let me expound." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. the very morning of the wedding." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point had formerly been in part my own. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Lee, in the county of Kent." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and which are rolled in Rotterdam." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she as yours." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Yes." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the orange pips. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough one of them." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I cannot imagine." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and is acting for the best. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "You forget that I know nothing about it." during which he might have communicated with his friend the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the driver. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, tied." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate respectable self." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, in this way: be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, carried out of court." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "What?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "She showed me, as I told you she would." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly golden eyeglasses. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I important." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most have I gained?" noting anything else of interest. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Well." "'Is purely nominal.' "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. photograph?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she for and were ordered to this address. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still grasp, he hurried from the room. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her papers diligently of late, have you not?" wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, for the market.' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "I have seen the police." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the but preventing her from injuring another. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Street. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Witness: Nothing definite. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone question. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two directors have had misgivings upon the subject." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "And I say east," said my patient. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'Certainly not.' frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, towards the blaze. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Yes." through." "In heaven's name, what for?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing a little more before I quite committed myself. the matter?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar you give your casting vote to?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are