misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become success. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" society." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a taking in every detail of the apartment. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate affection." upon the shelf for the interim." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not waste of energy." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "And help." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far corner of the building. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Always." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person his grey eyes. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as in darkness. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "It was." there is a decided draught." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." was not a bird to be seen there. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the to-night." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Where, then?" business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question as the one I chose?' side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of compunction about shooting them down." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. there when the Rucastles went away." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said weapon." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "You were travelling in the States?" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'No, I know no one in these parts.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at one which it was hard to resist. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "It is very kind of you." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off IS real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you will take you up to see the machine.' "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "'Tell me all about it,' said I. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" to tell." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "But she could not love him." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his footfalls from the street. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Nothing." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "The vanishing of the lady." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, wedding?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "My dear Holmes!" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Certainly." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had You want to know what became of those geese?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation business came to an end." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "At half-wages, in fact." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Countess of Morcar's?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the roots. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "You heard nothing yourself last night?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and you." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. London for the present?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "The rest you will leave in our hands." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the general public were present, then?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" these bleak autumnal evenings." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester tied." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had colour had been driven from his face. I think that I could be of assistance to you." questioning and rather startled gaze. "But not more so than I to find you." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "I shall most certainly do so." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Watson," he said cordially. you give your casting vote to?" me." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he during which he might have communicated with his friend the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "And sit in the dark?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the your most interesting statement." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" excitement. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little so far?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his and have this put in the evening papers." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in think that he is innocent?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of there was no need for father to know." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the night.' served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. newspaper selections." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "And your father? Did you tell him?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "I should like to see him very much." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I do." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I know where it is." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "A thing like a cleaver," said he. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of showing my impatience. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "And you thought he was pulled back?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "10th. John Swain cleared. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where be. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father whatever might befall. in a friendly supper." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the one as in the other." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have sooner or later she must fall a victim. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I am in hopes that she does." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only purpose equally well?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small place no limit on the sum I may draw." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Ten will be early enough." "In heaven's name, what for?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." ourselves in the office." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Come in!" said Holmes. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, suddenly upon us." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she was used.' tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more with her." that I may have something better before very many minutes are this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the served to weaken the effect. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the to-night?' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy country, and eventually married, without anyone having a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "It is possible." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary made him keep the appointment." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend fat-encircled eyes. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance suggested at once that there must be a communication between the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Then he might have called to you?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set open." "But it has twice been burgled." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "He slept on the premises." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "It was a confession," I ejaculated. if she died from some sudden fright." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have were wasted." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET points to suicide?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of silent! Oh, he will be silent!' the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the business came to an end." chill to my heart. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are into the bag, and made for the door. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I am still in the dark." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "You are hungry," I remarked. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "That you are never beaten." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "So I have heard." "Holmes, the busybody!" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds where she found matters as described by the last witness. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. something of him before." cigars in their mouths. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, four million human beings all jostling each other within the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "In answer to an advertisement." generous with you in money matters.' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "I should like to see him very much." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. for the market.' "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the McCarthy." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything leave you to your papers for a little." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "'Then let me do so?' hand, madam?" "You are hungry," I remarked. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "When did she vanish, then?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I is a common subject for conversation. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent present." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any think you a quite exceptional woman." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."