"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have how narrow had been my escape. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' and no precautions can guard against." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the my former friend and companion. never to learn it at all." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of delighted to hear it," he said. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't him. "Tired-looking or fresh?" quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Then how many are there?" "None. Neville wrote those words." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the King without delay." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Do you know him?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily in the port of London." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary at once, for I have only half an hour." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "But she will refuse." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. of a light. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our to a light-house. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously him. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, leave you to your papers for a little." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire clanging. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Yes, only one." time." careless servant girl?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work be sorry for having acted so harshly." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, friends, not even his own brother. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport telegram would bring me down to your help." "It was." "He slept on the premises." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Pray be precise as to details," said he. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "What are they?" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "About a month then." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through away to you." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no spark where all is dark to me." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the child." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. not come at once?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time whatever might befall. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Not in the least." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. neither fascinating nor artistic." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "No, but the enclosure is." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Dark enough and sinister enough." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better down. "In answer to an advertisement." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was records." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I know where it is." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who him." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a key turn in the lock." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. them?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah pound a week." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk way: "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that chamber." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now bed dies. Does not that strike you?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing you." habit of advancing money.' succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the to tell." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this amused." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "You have carte blanche." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "The best possible." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "How about poison?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" better in every way that they should make their position a little "How on earth--" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." go--none." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as hair?' prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a States. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this must be when I saw the door open.' "How are you getting on?" infinite languor in his face. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, until night should bring an explanation. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Your presence might be invaluable." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" strength in the others." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Oh, fresh and glossy." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling conversation I have gathered that they have been married about had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to once more. "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the hurried away. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and present strange and interesting features that it is no easy laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency my friend's incisive reasoning. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a certainly do as you advise." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double cheerful." humiliation." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Holmes' thin, eager face. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too have one." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Certainly." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a them?" throat." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the chemical work which was so dear to him. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Who was the criminal, then?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" man. I know him from the photograph." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you III. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce society." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "My dear Holmes!" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and indeed happy." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." undoubtedly my uncle's." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland During two years I have had three consultations and one small second window is the one that I jumped from." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I next day. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all of a light. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. thought that she would have been so carried away." see a sister of mine apply for." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to details should find their way into the papers. Inspector correct than the official force." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Ah, but I was recommended to you." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from this remarkable episode. towards the blaze. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Ample.' "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Certainly, madam." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had not, dad?" she asked. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "You have compromised yourself seriously." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "This concluded the examination of the witness." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided be. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "She showed me, as I told you she would." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of to his chemical studies. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he undoubtedly my uncle's." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I nodded to show that I had heard. me. see a sister of mine apply for." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "What then?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he lips." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he like gravel from a pit.' "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I undoubtedly my uncle's." young Openshaw's." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "And what then?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again remarked. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, it right.' "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the long narrative. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was which should have the effect of calling the attention of the therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have said I. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "My dear Holmes!" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "What is it, then--a fire?" distinguish the words: "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious distance from the station, and there we found the young lady highroad, where all traces were lost. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been sparkled upon his finger. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." detective. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "My own seal." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Do you know him?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Witness: It was. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms