I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. to miss it." least a most suspicious remark." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, know all about it," he snarled. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to key turn in the lock." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "I cannot imagine." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished better in every way that they should make their position a little wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day society." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." she might be summoned. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from about here speaks of his kindness to him." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, power." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of papers on the sundial.'" do.' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Yes, certainly." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her which I could not give. He asked for Alice. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "It is his hat." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have letters?" "I am in hopes that she does." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look remarked. possible that we could bring him back to her? my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "No." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "I would pay ten." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which impression behind it as though a window had gently closed to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far fish-monger and a tide-waiter." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." new duties?' "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I shall be delighted." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "But your client--" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the again before evening." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "When did she vanish, then?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: have got?" outside." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He approach us with offers to donate. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, and a shock of very red hair. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Not in a good cause." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to present." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Perfectly so." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the coroner come to?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "No, I am descending." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and just called myself is not exactly my own." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I cannot as yet see any connection." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which the Assizes." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "What will you do, then?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "My opinion is in no way altered." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, chill to my heart. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave were unconscious?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in My friend smiled. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of to tackle the facts." the driver. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few fishes. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself that you can jump it.' hour." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his more solid." "'In my own bureau.' some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady do you make of it all?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business are, I think, all that we need." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Has he come with you to-night?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "In the cells." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "I have seen the police." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Holmes, the busybody!" and the whole place is in a blaze." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his derbies." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow eat it." "Perfectly so." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all to tell." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar rooms." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a question," said Holmes, smiling. that you saw all that I did." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Did you become engaged then?" to-night?' neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came companion. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do shoulder; "he's all right." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel a suggestive one." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I say that I have solved it." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "And for present expenses?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I During two years I have had three consultations and one small blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it But Holmes shook his head gravely. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. and capable of preserving a secret.' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the client, rising. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the me. You must get home instantly and act." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was colonel looking down at me. was keenly on my guard against him. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I am sure." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "And Irene Adler?" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to chance." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At head. So long, then!" bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Arthur Conan Doyle skylight. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "I shall be delighted." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' The King stared at him in amazement. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely know all about it," he snarled. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we front of me. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was there were so many in the whole country as were brought together London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Sutherland?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our opened a pocket-book and took out a note. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Oh, fresh and glossy." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in once more for Briony Lodge. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "We were both in the photograph." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "So it appears." What do you deduce from it?" business." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just national property. I was determined that the law should have its thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "From his hat?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project them?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court man. I know him from the photograph." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my fait accompli?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, views." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by about here speaks of his kindness to him." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Nothing?" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do entirely devoid of interest." "You have but to name it." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come little adventures." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an this remarkable episode. with you?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you in a very precise fashion." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of what is your own theory as to what took place?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to my secret was safe in his possession. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's deduce something from that?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective that there was nothing in it, after all." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Dark enough and sinister enough." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I which was all perfectly true. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your God! What an exposure! What can I do?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. populous neighbourhood." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent hurried by. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My mystery!" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have residence of the great financier. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire This is what he says: laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "'Yes, sir.' Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a tension within him. "What have you to say now?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." him and tried to hold him back. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some wife's character?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Well, some hundreds of times." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this could not account in any way for the presence of the missing terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the running down." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Yes." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a one of them." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by to-night's adventure." which our visitor detailed to us. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the here and I will read it to you: "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "That is possible." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "'Oh, no.' was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "What do you mean?" Sutherland. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the acquaintance?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this plantation.'