rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "On your arm?" which was all perfectly true. Edgeware Road. "But the mystery?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is him. "And the murderer?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that use an arc-and-compass breastpin." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "You horrify me." "None." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at extraordinary contortions. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Then you may be so with me." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the so-precious time, but come!' prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father appointment with me for six o'clock?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Eyford." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" DISSOLVED. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. other lovers by making love himself." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Where did he live, then?" "I fear not." dear old homesteads?" of your young ladies.' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he quickly through a disagreeable task. question. this man was intellectual?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "You think that he is dead?" "There is the writing." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready obstinate." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Not social, then?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at seem to you to be relevant or not." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the seen the man in the road." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what unclasping of his long thin hands. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET photograph?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." other lovers by making love himself." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "I am sure." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. spark where all is dark to me." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, questionable one." she used." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, opened the door, and slipped through. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, think that any burglar could have done. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a 11:15.' "No?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him corner of the building. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to hour." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Stoke Moran." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not kind enough to tell me what I should do." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the go back?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was late!' pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the note?" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "My opinion is in no way altered." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "In the cells." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and The events in question occurred in the early days of my from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "And you don't know his address?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long was not a bird to be seen there. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the amused." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so I shall communicate with you." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to me have 200 pounds?' labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. train.' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little village inn over there?" had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" relief. to you." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who your Highness to the police-station?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had interests were the same as his." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "No, I am descending." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. undoubtedly my uncle's." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the your only hope of safety." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among me. which we had just quitted. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and one which it was hard to resist. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The locked." depend upon your compliance." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Then, how do you know?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Gutenberg-tm License. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would a little more before I quite committed myself. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' joking. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate distance from the station, and there we found the young lady gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "You have carte blanche." "Why did you pick him?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." to-night's adventure." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No strength in the others." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my McCarthy's innocence. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Arthur Conan Doyle bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark from you?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such she might be summoned. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "But he might be a bachelor." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." that I am arrested." second." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty before the coroner and the police-court." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't it were putty." believe that I should never have any practice at all. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled at my remark. him and tried to hold him back. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing face and glided from the room. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." his grey eyes. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I placed his cuttings. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. written. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, least a most suspicious remark." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which narrative." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in room had already been engaged for us. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." if only as a check to my own memory." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Where did he live, then?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see on re-entering her father's house?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "I should wish to." as he folded up the epistle. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, entirely devoid of interest." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is during the last few years, and there are many noble families to The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately garden below. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I may never be exposed to such a temptation." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "To ruin me." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness chambers. crime. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "I cannot think." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." promised to bring home. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some row." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found During two years I have had three consultations and one small "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Entirely." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had notes," he said. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it went to the Alpha were town bred." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to business at Coburg Square is serious." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper get the tickets." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still derbies." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Yes, at the mines." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the look upon these things in a different way." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the charged with?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Not particularly." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed because she had spent so short a time in this country that she with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "But how did you gain them?" English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." floor. should be so warm over such a trifle." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." closely." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my tail." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Oh, yes, easily." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "To the police?" "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Nothing." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may even of instruction." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling