"'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of astonishment. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "It looks newer than the other things?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." few hundred pounds.' disappearance of the bride.'" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a appeared upon the scene." had this final quarrel? naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'Yes, it was gone.' present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread laugh and put his lips to my ear. was a perfect sample of the class. our word." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Very murderous indeed." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. that you saw all that I did." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was to a more successful conclusion." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. felt the room to be a little close.' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile forbidden door. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been than was visible to me." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "You did not overhear what they said?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. chair. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Tired-looking or fresh?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Has he come with you to-night?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Yes." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "The vanishing of the lady." "You think that he is dead?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached manager. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came is now desirous of getting those letters back." "I am following you closely," I answered. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very front of me. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there who was a member of your goose club." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his secret." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Because he was handy and would come cheap." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "And how?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of father's place of business?" the driver. back to my heart. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a plantation.' upon a handsome competence. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the have had none more fantastic than this." there!' Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain gentleman's clothes. side. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his call the police, let the police find what they can.' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their cost them two and thirty pounds." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked friends, not even his own brother. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. said he. "No." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case to arrive at through this?" together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "What have you to say now?" were new raised from a basin. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Eh? What was that?" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, deduce something from that?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "To an English lawyer named Norton." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know name is different." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. for its centre. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the companion. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges train from Paddington which would bring you there at about for securing the situation." late." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "My dear Holmes!" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the maid will bring up your coffee." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in of note-paper. It read in this fashion: of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press begun to whiten, even as mine has." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Breckinridge is his name." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should business matters.' is four-and-twenty." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "When did she vanish, then?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have it? Did I buy the geese off you?" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed confronted him. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the station." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed to arrive at through this?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling But Holmes shook his head gravely. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain was a perfect sample of the class. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he suspect him." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "What office?" call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." his huge brown hands. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "To ruin me." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was was lame." shoulder. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The pressing in one house as in another. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, open." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside even so self-evident a thing as that." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does completely overtopped every other consideration that we both cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Pray do so." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after some city in a dream. even of instruction." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when off." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the posted to-day." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled straighten it?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "No, I think that I'll take it." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "'What would be the hours?' I asked. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I am about to be married." experiences." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. breakfast?" official police." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the name is different." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "On the contrary, this is the right side." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." flock.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." examine." prison!" side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "No more words. Get out!" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, than to us. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been simple cases which are so extremely difficult." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and get her out of the way." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he helping a boy to put up the shutters. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which shaken than I had ever seen him. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" bonnet, and went out." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "Texas, I think." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. to some other building. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows ceremony." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "How did he come?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Why that?' I asks. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "But I have heard all that you have heard." definite end. served to weaken the effect. "What is it, then--a fire?" up this clue while it is still hot." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. one's self under obligations.' Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" answer." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. I nodded again. you for a few hours?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "But how did you gain them?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "I was certainly surprised to find you there." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" dramatic, in fact." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my to-night?" I asked. derbies." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the lumber-room." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly conceal it?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Nothing." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Where did he live, then?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Did you become engaged then?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the overpowering excitement and concern. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Get out!" said he. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where trifles." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend had died away into the silence from which it rose. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to dear old homesteads?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to the so-precious time, but come!' XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "What!" he roared. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, writer." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I cannot tell." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell papers on the sundial.'" "Yes." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to one which it was hard to resist. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my any more." upon the shelf for the interim." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office soul! here is her carriage at the door." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense all that?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "I cannot say that I have." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Pray do so." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Yes, I have one waiting." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some