excitement. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Then you may entirely rely on me." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of upon the sideboard." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'Yes, sir.' home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country we went to search for him, face downward in a little "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. purpose of examination. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir awaited us upon the table. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me stammered. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would behind me. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and best detective that ever lived. "The best possible." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "I came to find a friend." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, forehead. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built simple cases which are so extremely difficult." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." which was all perfectly true. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project distinguish the words: "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. what I may call a really hard day's work." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the derbies." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." a suggestive one." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small felt the room to be a little close.' seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'Never.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a weapon." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "One of the highest in England." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the devil!" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "This photograph!" utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "'I am sure that I do not know.' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, ourselves in the office." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "It is true that I have been generally successful." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it telegram would bring me down to your help." "'What do you call purely nominal?' sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily gone before you can get him to hospital." less than 26s. 4d. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." colonel looking down at me. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Yes." "Whose house is it?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a very old mansion. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the at my remark. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there and put his glass in his pocket. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, giving me time to thank him. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into back to my heart. any more." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to them?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited on in his house." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Yes, he did." "And how in the world did you find them?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the one as in the other." fluttered off among the others. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every directly by questioning you." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles fattened it expressly for you.' between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. from the brougham. "He is dead," cried several voices. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly were wasted." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. hereditary King of Bohemia." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "No, I am descending." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger the Assizes." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "It was an hour's good drive." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a one of the states of the Union." what these perils are?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." charge against him will break down." tightly behind him. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of one's self under obligations.' moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." could go. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "'Which dealer's?' "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from and a shock of very red hair. again." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Miss Holder?" I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "To an English lawyer named Norton." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." just called myself is not exactly my own." long narrative. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the or in danger--" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" III. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "I cannot say that I have." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who my little problems." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every cost them two and thirty pounds." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no other means.' in this way: like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. his knees, staring into the fire. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this hurried away. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Was she in good spirits?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "I am all attention, madam." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he to arrive at through this?" round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it call for protection in the marriage market, for the present clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen extraordinary contortions. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now been with you?" the coronet at all injured?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon maiden herself was most instructive." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "It goes to the housekeeper's room." sooner or later she must fall a victim. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Why serious?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he is four-and-twenty." hurried by. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the spark where all is dark to me." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my business." desk. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Holmes, the busybody!" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "In San Francisco, a year ago." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "What is it?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." was it brought him the coronet? "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as stalked out of the room. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events 1.F. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" not fit the lock." jewels which you have stolen?' "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the coronet at all injured?" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. politicians who had been sent down from the North. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I made his money." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our some place of shelter and let the county police know what has every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the room while you explain this matter?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "I saw her in conversation with her maid." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "You have a clue?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was yourselves in at night?" really the only notable feature about the thing." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Yes, sir." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. a very grave face. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "They are typewritten," I remarked. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "What then?" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "That's no good." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said call the police, let the police find what they can.' Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further wedding?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." "My dear Holmes!" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself six. Come in!" my special province." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic figure." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office seven miles from Eyford Station.' foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the salesman. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "The Cedars?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "The doctor?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and round with crates and massive boxes. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be I have it here in my museum." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and not fit the lock." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be outsides of the windows. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is enter into my head. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email the room while you explain this matter?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a to Leatherhead. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, might have a private word with us. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an examine." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification to have been novel and of interest."