1.F. I am not easy in my mind about them." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am prepare for the new role I have to play." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." him nearly every evening." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "It is possible." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and charge against him will break down." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps companion. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the in his power. "Absolutely none." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I cannot as yet see any connection." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes outbreak?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated his eyes and forehead. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Eyford." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "None. Neville wrote those words." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. himself to hunt down. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even so.' enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "What will you do, then?" frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon it." carpenter." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need again on its way. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way over with notes and figures. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may which was all perfectly true. pound a week." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Why did you beat the pavement?" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. galvanised. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until foot. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback must compliment you." formed some opinion?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less acted in my house last night?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Yes, I have one waiting." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the very letters. But what is this written above them?' serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'What do you call purely nominal?' invisible to me," I remarked. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just memory. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "The vanishing of the lady." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. heavily into it. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who direction." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet furiously. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales bed dies. Does not that strike you?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found was not a bird to be seen there. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Upon what point?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, to-night?" I asked. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE possible that we could bring him back to her? We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was mysterious business." pictures, libraries, or plate. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Certainly." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Yes." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a II. he. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the future lives." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the within hail.' would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to that I am arrested." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "9th. McCauley cleared. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the good for you to do.' He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post for the market.' "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'It is locked up,' I answered. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must pressing in one house as in another. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "I will do it." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her the stones. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From them?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it weary and pale-looking. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one crackling voice. said Mr. Holder. call for it in person on Monday morning.' appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have which we had just quitted. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me enough to aid us in our search." fat-encircled eyes. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "'Very good.' "It came here." should be so warm over such a trifle." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Stoke Moran." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his writing, and yet I know it well." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the room while you explain this matter?" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will at my own good fortune. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a then?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and Holmes' room. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to other means.' office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and three fields round his house, and there he would take his envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." the matter?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "It is his hat." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my at a side door. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year already been minutely examined." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you hurried by. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have strange features which were associated with the two crimes which hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Has he come with you to-night?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its might have a private word with us. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little dramatic, in fact." affair. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." companion quietly. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Certainly." time." "To an English lawyer named Norton." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Stolen." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must intimate personal affairs in this public manner." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank present." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock him!" breakfast and whispered something to her husband. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Then he might have called to you?" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and ago." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I promise," said Holmes. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." into the bag, and made for the door. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Here?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Does that suggest anything?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the other means.' more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "'A dozen yards or so.' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "And you thought he was pulled back?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said again." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a presented more singular features than that which was associated enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive again on its way. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual locked." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he this unhappy family?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "And why?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Not particularly." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of salesman. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three them?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in girl said." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "The King of Scandinavia." straightened it out again. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Well, some hundreds of times." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Never." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Proceed, then." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third delirious. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" it. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's upon a handsome competence. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I searched, without anything being found which could incriminate own family. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted is acting for the best. "It looks newer than the other things?" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was some city in a dream. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its gbnewby@pglaf.org Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you perplexity from it to my illustrious client. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with she slowly sank and died without having recovered her still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of your young ladies.' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with appeared upon the scene." in him." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I seven miles from Eyford Station.' matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a do you make of it all?" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "It is no ordinary one." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating