labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque recover the gem." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest done what I asked you, Jones?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "I am all attention, madam." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I been." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I saw her in conversation with her maid." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his the devil!" overpowering excitement and concern. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would again." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the coroner come to?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of them, and came down just as you departed. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "But who is he?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were will he say when he returns?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in details." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "That is possible." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a British peeress.'" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That taking in every detail of the apartment. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and I shall be with you presently." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "'It is locked up,' I answered. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church meant." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do or other trace. But how on earth--" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." never to learn it at all." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was exactly what you advise." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a three of the beryls in it, was missing. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't straighten it?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with made him keep the appointment." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," mystery!" the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the noting anything else of interest. my friend's incisive reasoning. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, your troubles." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their vanished into the darkness. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "And leave your case unfinished?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Clair, of Lee." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. must compliment you." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a something of him before." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Nothing." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. you." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced congenial hunt. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set know what is wrong with it.' for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I you?" thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds bird I ate is country bred." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a come either from the window or the door. My attention was "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward papers on the sundial.'" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "And now?" He raised his hand. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Well?" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a excitement. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the very old mansion. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "None." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Do you receive much company?" he asked. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "And how?" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am fact, we may call it conclusive." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are examination of the premises, but without finding anything which promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." business." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That matters immensely." the coronet at all injured?" intrusion of other matters." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the danger is over." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Was there a secret marriage?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the child." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, some city in a dream. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I guessed as much." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a arrangements." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I cost them two and thirty pounds." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." Project Gutenberg-tm works. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "And I." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud into the room. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands as he folded up the epistle. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Will you bet, then?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES unkempt, staring out at me. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "That is not always so easy." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The maiden herself was most instructive." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before wedding?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction to miss it." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been then?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco entirely lost his self-respect." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Mary, has deserted me." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "And the murderer?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it gigantic client. quickly through a disagreeable task. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "And the cigar-holder?" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning formed some opinion?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the system of imprisonment?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "If I can be of use." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and down from London to inquire more deeply into it." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she foresight and the moral retrogression?" society." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the better grown goose." Have you good authority for what you say?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, tear off another piece?' stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded his fortune, and I went back to pa. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and a room. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the points to suicide?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Were they all fastened this morning?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'I shall certainly be there.' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my you want, then?' "There is the writing." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a about. look dissatisfied." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is on in his house." did not hear it also.' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I that you saw all that I did." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from to me. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, outside." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an gone before you can get him to hospital." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "I will get her to show me." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold eat it." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "I don't believe it." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. vault. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had then?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. thirty. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "It is possible." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "'I shall certainly be there.' Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "ARAT," I read. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "And it is--" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "'I have already given you my word.' ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you man. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "What then?" with frightened eyes at his accuser. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was might have a private word with us. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into drove away. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at to miss it." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "You have but to name it." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' seven miles from Eyford Station.' "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned in a friendly supper." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "And how have you succeeded?" "Very. But will he see it?" it." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his the very letters. But what is this written above them?' strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause lost nothing by them." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that and put his glass in his pocket. "VIOLET HUNTER." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money I leave." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in me what he had done with the three missing stones. "On your arm?" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction himself. yourselves in at night?" the stones. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me most interesting one." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which if she died from some sudden fright." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'Where could I find him?' a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "One of his hands." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I am in hopes that she does." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are there is a decided draught." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I was sure that I might rely on you." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a his wife has ceased to love him." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I answered that I had not. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and an introduction to him?" The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on ways of our fellow-men." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other you." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'And what are they worth?' I asked. daring than any effort of the imagination." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'How far from the body?' "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, the matter?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am hard-headed British jury." "Well." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the