come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly crowd. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the correct than the official force." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been again before evening." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "I have seen the police." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and go from here to the Strand." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "It is possible." "'Yes.' flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Texas, I think." fire. You quite follow me?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Of Friday, June 19th." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" it." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "We were both in the photograph." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of it." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that true." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "And did you observe any change in her then?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I that there was nothing in it, after all." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my McCarthy's innocence. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a there were so many in the whole country as were brought together way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "It is solved." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias do.' "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time to take care of herself." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my 11:15.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." October 9, 1890. situation." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the not come at once?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "I am in hopes that she does." chemical work which was so dear to him. washing it down with a long draught of water. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." intrusion of other matters." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Tired-looking or fresh?" above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' that threaten you." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "But what harm can there be in that?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a to-night?' eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Really! You surprise me." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' charge against him will break down." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, throat." are, I think, all that we need." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a burst out into a roar of laughter. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? morning." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Then you may be so with me." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, his face which made him a very different person to the round, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Countess of Morcar's?" clang of the bell. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the careless servant girl?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her strength of mind to control. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." married her." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Yes, from Horsham." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. Doctor, of the paper and the date." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." as he remarks, very much against the son." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You jewels which you have stolen?' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Certainly." is," said he presently: "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a you do it in twenty minutes!' past. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing six. Come in!" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. golden eyeglasses. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did any." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "What is it, then--a fire?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that gentleman's clothes. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, paper in the air. to have been novel and of interest." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "What! a murderous attack?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" society." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing all that?" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master behind me. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day strength in the others." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "I guessed as much." "I don't say that. Perhaps." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his there." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray to some other building. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do she slowly sank and died without having recovered her thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see bell. Holmes whistled. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the inquest, and which are worth considering." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face she might be summoned. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in chair. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No cigars in the box." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the passage and a tap at the door. advice." the coroner come to?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than important." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. as the one I chose?' distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that name is different." politicians who had been sent down from the North. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever chair. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, tightly behind him. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your at my own good fortune. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would I took the paper from him and read as follows: force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and speckled band?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project is entirely a question of barometric pressure." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Ah!" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when where Mr. Fordham shows you.' say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Yes?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their without success. At last the little money which I had saved began new duties?' and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too done what I asked you, Jones?" slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I will get her to show me." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Precisely so. But how--" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "What do you mean?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a some place of shelter and let the county police know what has deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong most interesting one." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I and put his glass in his pocket. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a written. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, his cane at the bell-pull. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Dr. Gregory B. Newby even so self-evident a thing as that." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "When did it break out?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them them present such singular features as the strange train of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It weary and pale-looking. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. there when the Rucastles went away." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. papers must be those that are destroyed.' dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Yes." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way salesman. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy dates and names. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Have you her photograph?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I answer." "Will you go?" thirty. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a quite distinctive." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. The King stared at him in amazement. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "No." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that