what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone point our research must commence, and we will begin it by form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No, thank goodness, she did not." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him of the one which your family is now devouring." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they best detective that ever lived. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in triumphant cloud from his cigarette. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "None." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into that I may have something better before very many minutes are robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of License. You must require such a user to return or everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Was your sister dressed?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between awaited us upon the table. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every brain must have something in it." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the beyond words. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Yes, at the mines." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I showing my impatience. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'Where to?' habit of advancing money.' figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before never came back." "It's nothing of the kind." important." them?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was think that any burglar could have done. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "Then you may entirely rely on me." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and bill, which interests me deeply." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking promised to bring home. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), it." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "'Certainly not.' Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the devil!" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, not fit the lock." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an that he will be back before evening." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Street. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. advice." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "What then?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "None." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "And you don't know his address?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Eyford." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official skylight. room?" that you saw all that I did." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning his wife has ceased to love him." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do returning from some small jollification and was making his way should be taken.' thin, with a long, sharp nose?" crime." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "What I expected to see." must compliment you." weapon." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or yards of it?' present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a that?' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his sound at heart." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of as this. Pray let me have the details." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "You'll never persuade me to believe that." him to be an active member of the medical profession." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If with her." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to characteristics, but those are the more obvious." not within a twentieth part of the market price." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "No." and the whole place is in a blaze." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "I should wish to." formed some opinion?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, case-book, which he consulted. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the delirious. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. this man was intellectual?" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "I say that I have solved it." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Always." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It other lovers by making love himself." lamp in his hand. "And I." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long his wife has ceased to love him." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was was not a bird to be seen there. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "And is that all?" people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I say it is." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are done what I asked you, Jones?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own noise which awoke you from your sleep?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend bedroom door." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "And now?" He raised his hand. true." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Ah!" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she tied." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'In my own bureau.' are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you points in connection with it which never have been, and probably his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with nights." "At half-wages, in fact." "It is solved." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Absolutely none." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." client, rising. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" and effective." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." answer." "Then what has happened to him?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of sufficient punishment." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down purpose equally well?" crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Witness: Nothing definite. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "One of the highest in England." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw as the one I chose?' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "I came to find a friend." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or than was visible to me." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and asked. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I should wish to." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed as the one I chose?' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing key of the affair now." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, indiscretion." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as awaited us upon the table. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see should be taken.' relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I cannot imagine." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the nursery. "We were both in the photograph." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the house with me." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself shaken than I had ever seen him. "By no means." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is your sleep?' there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all the armchair which I pushed forward for him. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly gentleman's clothes. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder carpenter." "'Oh, no.' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and gone before you can get him to hospital." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become outside." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET before, for it was considerably after midnight. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Then, how do you know?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," stepfather?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "I will do it." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand charge against him will break down." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' London for the present?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a chill to my heart. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Where is it, then?" exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter the bed, and you in that chair." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years was once confined in the cab my mission was practically knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. you came in." "But how?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; brandy and water within his reach. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural mystery." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "You have but to name it." one of the states of the Union." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant paper in the air. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Precisely." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an think that any burglar could have done. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from up this clue while it is still hot." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. lost his Christmas dinner." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the you." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Well, but China?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "What!" he roared. The events in question occurred in the early days of my 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my client, rising. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds brain must have something in it." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the child." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." yards of it?' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through since then to throw any light upon what became of him." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of