"It certainly sounds feasible." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. questionable one." someone who had been in Australia." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "The Coroner: What do you mean? above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, row." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Was there a secret marriage?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." system of imprisonment?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the ceremony." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Doctor, of the paper and the date." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that good for you to do.' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the in the hope of finding them." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been the driver. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," very old mansion. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future the stones. writers could invent nothing more crude." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker that he has suffered." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "You have carte blanche." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "'Yes, it was gone.' remarked. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." excitement. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "What do you make of that, Watson?" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the thirty. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; crackling voice. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "But he might be a bachelor." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you question. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "On the contrary, this is the right side." morning." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "I shall be delighted." "But your client--" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked standing smiling on the door-step. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own nonsense.' "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and business." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he case-book, which he consulted. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Where did you address your letters, then?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Precisely." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door was it brought him the coronet? "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "How many? I don't know." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the bare slabs of marble. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "I was certainly surprised to find you there." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his http://gutenberg.net/license). aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, over here." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all was once confined in the cab my mission was practically as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Holmes' face clouded over. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. province." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely what is your own theory as to what took place?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "That is unusual in a young girl." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "None." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with too. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "And how?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." writers could invent nothing more crude." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had awkward doing business with an alias." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer fluttered off among the others. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an within hail.' of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "How about poison?" made him keep the appointment." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any waste of energy." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Yes, sir." not within a twentieth part of the market price." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "What then?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, obstinate." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving business at Coburg Square is serious." "And why in hopes?" the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you about here speaks of his kindness to him." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, your bag." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. not within a twentieth part of the market price." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to she used." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey floor. bearing upon the case." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view gives a meaning to it." against a man in the prime of life?" a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. of the vacancies.' on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they people don't know." to a more successful conclusion." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the had this final quarrel? "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' tear off another piece?' weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to introspective fashion. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "You are hungry," I remarked. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds matter." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a said he. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the floor. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Not him." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy of it with the greatest attention. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to such attractions and accomplishments?' was the fact that his father should, according to his account, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'About the same.' "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the shall not find me ungrateful." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in flock.' it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in me what he had done with the three missing stones. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, them, and came down just as you departed. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been of the one which your family is now devouring." towards the blaze. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to spare." telegram would bring me down to your help." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Proceed, then." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress upon the sideboard." bare slabs of marble. "By no means." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Heh?' You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "I am in hopes that she does." forecastle of an emigrant ship. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it an introduction to him?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "I do." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, to-night." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so learned something! Where are the gems?" outside. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I say it is." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. said he at last. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "My dear Holmes!" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for to affect your life." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever hopeless attempt at recovering them." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat absorbing." "Won't it ring?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the might help us?" a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' see me here to avoid scandal." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an question," said Holmes, smiling. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Certainly." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "'Oh, no.' I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the read over the extraordinary announcement. "I see many objections to any such theory." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Precisely so. But how--" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the Sholtos." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when