"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally past. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner asked. "I cannot imagine." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "You have compromised yourself seriously." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this had this final quarrel? say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my instincts rose up against that laugh. "Who by?" do.' gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that bird of prey. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "'A dozen yards or so.' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any as this. Pray let me have the details." "And who is her maid?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same disappearance of the bride.'" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the rat could hardly pass through." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the salesman. sound at heart." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "The knees of his trousers." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your It may be so in this case, also." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I there when the Rucastles went away." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our It was close upon four before the door opened, and a tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured relief. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my union?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had you." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, plantation.' "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his your sleep?' edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "How about poison?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course would apply.' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the floor. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to held up the lantern and gazed about him. place no limit on the sum I may draw." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Holmes rather sternly. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his experiences." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Here?" your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest acquaintance?" it." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "That you are never beaten." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached seem to you to be relevant or not." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the and the whole place is in a blaze." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage hour." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil and inquire as to the address." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have several quiet little villages up there." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and unprofitable." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a that there was nothing in it, after all." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a memory. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "And the cigar-holder?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Never to return." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered opened a pocket-book and took out a note. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Pray do so." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic tail." "An accident, I presume?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you voice, changing her seat as requested. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord kind enough to tell me what I should do." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was before the coroner and the police-court." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say wall." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to the matter?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera a room. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the bed, and you in that chair." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "We must have a cab." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "My dear Holmes!" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "How long did she speak to this Alice?" will be renamed. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a taking in every detail of the apartment. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Has he come with you to-night?" means taking possession of that which another person has a prior minor matters until to-morrow." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't to surprise her." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." crowd. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the views." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they were wasted." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to gentleman's clothes. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "I will try. What is it?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from never came back." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" newspaper selections." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of have been better. It is all right." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you geese which you supplied to the Alpha." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he as this. Pray let me have the details." seven miles from Eyford Station.' he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old to tackle the facts." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." letters?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead beyond words. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue conclusions. was a perfect sample of the class. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming taking in every detail of the apartment. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "I saw her in conversation with her maid." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but his face. in a friendly supper." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Never." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him have not had my rubber." pressing in one house as in another. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that you wished to speak to me?' and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the south-west, I see." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise guilty parties." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Yes, from Horsham." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss answer." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Yes, at the mines." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very have got?" end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Never." "Where, then, is my wife?" said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Clair, of Lee." "Do you know him?" the Red-headed League." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable humiliation." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the address that was given us in the advertisement. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was it." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, congenial hunt. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Were they all fastened this morning?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Where, then?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "But how?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured careless servant girl?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "'Never,' said I. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "'I have already given you my word.' have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no thought that she would have been so carried away." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram British peeress.'" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage which I could not give. He asked for Alice. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "You don't mind breaking the law?" business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.