people don't know." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy carried out of court." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among bachelor.' Farm upon the left." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her questionable one." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. away to you." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. official police." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "And why in hopes?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an would apply.' lamp in his hand. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a it." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and is acting for the best. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, not come at once?" hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common to have that photograph." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, nonsense.' "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is been." to change my dress. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough take the flies, but not before." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "My Mary? Impossible!" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too your billet.' are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having unprecedented a position." peculiar to him. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the late." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Yes, it would be as well." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' the window, rose as we entered. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "I came to find a friend." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." respectable self." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive visitors." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way sneer upon his pale face. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want I took the paper from him and read as follows: fish-monger and a tide-waiter." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. that, and I came down." opened the door, and slipped through. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has wedding?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, head. So long, then!" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Where, then?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes and laid it on the table. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I do.' "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had sentimental considerations in the background which would induce was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his threw himself down with his face to the pillow. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Stoke Moran?" said he. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which best detective that ever lived. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a infinite languor in his face. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "And it is--" garden below. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Countess of Morcar's?" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. know all about it," he snarled. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each the iron safe, which he closed upon it. child?' and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be relation between them, and what the object of his repeated some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the matter?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "It is a murder, then?" "No." bird I ate is country bred." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and jewels which you have stolen?' that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But how?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, intrusion of other matters." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem recover the gem." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! back into the street. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be to me. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself it." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked extraordinary contortions. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "You have carte blanche." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "My dear Holmes!" Holmes' room. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I have seen the police." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream could not account in any way for the presence of the missing the address that was given us in the advertisement. "They are typewritten," I remarked. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my here and I will read it to you: my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. national property. I was determined that the law should have its stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "How did that help you?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who I. that I am arrested." may have an influence upon European history." noting anything else of interest. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have business." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Whose house is it?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing corner of the building. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been the stones. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "It must be recovered." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Indeed! Whose, then?" the matter?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. place of silver." Does that suggest anything?" "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'Tell me all about it,' said I. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the that, and I came down." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "But his left-handedness." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Count Von Kramm." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. photograph a cabinet?" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the room while you explain this matter?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, bird I ate is country bred." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the DISSOLVED. electronic works "Yes, I have one waiting." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "What!" he roared. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may where she found matters as described by the last witness. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side fattened it expressly for you.' sufficient punishment." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage subject to the trademark license, especially commercial of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a and no precautions can guard against." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to strong and stiff." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a galvanised. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of next day. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "'Then let me do so?' overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "But you have hopes?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I to go into your room and bar your shutters?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few quickly through a disagreeable task. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an secret." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "And your mother is alive?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," skylight. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "But the mystery?" I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something was feeling which was the fattest.' "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "I would give my fortune to have them back." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "But you were on a friendly footing?" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "And you can do nothing until then?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "It came here." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and look dissatisfied." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the coroner come to?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, of his shoulders. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have photograph?" he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Certainly." the matter?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Not particularly." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek later, upon the night of May 2nd." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "What shall I do?" himself to hunt down. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting again on its way. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" yards of it?' "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Yes, but only for you and me." "I am to be neutral?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such you in yours." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. three fields round his house, and there he would take his branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Farm upon the left." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan visitors." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "But who is he?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES Young McCarthy must be got off, however." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** that before taking the final step I should like to submit the name is different."