"'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the should be taken.' "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and hands. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. McCarthy." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you my former friend and companion. I nodded to show that I had heard. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Where did you address your letters, then?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat you want, then?' "And Irene Adler?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the crackling voice. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which and wait." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down miles off. "You horrify me." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, foot. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "The gentleman I describe." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Have you her photograph?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to foot. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to fluttered off among the others. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Oh, fresh and glossy." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Yes, they were peculiar boots." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to character. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's entirely lost his self-respect." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "'Certainly not. But why?' When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this again on its way. "Certainly." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Leave Paddington by the 11:15." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the very letters. But what is this written above them?' little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be could gather together that I was able to avert another public up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the instincts rose up against that laugh. detective. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if charged with?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project fashion which was peculiar to him. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face garden below. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Sutherland. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw seem to you to be relevant or not." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project your co-operation." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "I promise," said Holmes. door?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Holmes, the busybody!" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set relation between them, and what the object of his repeated upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said off." appeal." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "No, I had a dozen." everything which you would wish to know." she might be summoned. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask For additional contact information: I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing a good hundred miles off by now." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the other means.' I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Holmes, the busybody!" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." amused." "Of Friday, June 19th." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the four million human beings all jostling each other within the everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the late." "I cannot think." may have an influence upon European history." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." such person." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy astonishment. "Then he might have called to you?" "My private note-paper." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose hereditary King of Bohemia." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." events than those which have happened in my own family." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the made his money." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 crime. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Not in a good cause." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "I see no marks." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which chair. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "'Very good.' mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and files of the old papers, following the future career of every grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my desk. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer returned to France?" accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we relief. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'Yes.' can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which it had come upon my father." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Who by?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. in one or two places in England?' feature." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Young McCarthy must be got off, however." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to locked. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Have you her photograph?" and I shall be with you presently." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on of Mr. Rucastle's." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another evidence," I remarked. could go. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "What is it?" national property. I was determined that the law should have its "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "I am all attention, madam." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the armchair which I pushed forward for him. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Absolutely none." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, man. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "What do you make of that, Watson?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I problems help me to do so." presented more singular features than that which was associated exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a with her." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Yes, but only for you and me." Chief Executive and Director "But what will you do?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the second window is the one that I jumped from." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "And when will you call?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the him and tried to hold him back. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by appointment with me for six o'clock?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the them?" "On the contrary, this is the right side." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, been with you?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother chair. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "'I shall certainly be there.' have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "No. What a strange idea!" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "'Which dealer's?' of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that my room." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Where did he live, then?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "We have tried and failed." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "You think so, too?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Seven!" I answered. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope shall use the carriage to-night." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. became a certainty. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Seven!" I answered. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a followed. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "That sounds a little paradoxical." said I. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "My dear Holmes!" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "No good news?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, constraint." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men sake, don't!" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, little trying to do so much typewriting?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Yes, certainly." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set leaning back in his chair. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "On your arm?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "I would pay ten." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our completely overtopped every other consideration that we both On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes back alive. as noiselessly as she had come. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the night.' rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing your billet.' other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he