business matters.' fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that tied." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and the nursery. it." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his I nodded again. what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "My private note-paper." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more copied or distributed: "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I shall most certainly do so." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, said Mr. Holder. "What will you say?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied are windows in it, of course?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." are windows in it, of course?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand the salesman. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "About a month then." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of begun to whiten, even as mine has." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the very morning of the wedding." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his of receipt of the work. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no I. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the to-night?' astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant front of me. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely and a shock of very red hair. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY key turn in the lock." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. brandy and water within his reach. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight is entirely a question of barometric pressure." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black in the hope of finding them." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my situation." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." emerged. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see some city in a dream. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to her also." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence national property. I was determined that the law should have its gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the running down." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom within hail.' it with his own hands." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This formed some opinion?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he call for protection in the marriage market, for the present difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. already been minutely examined." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute to have been novel and of interest." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies His name is Francis Prosper." paper in the air. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Yes." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Precisely." "And help." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "It came here." politicians who had been sent down from the North. wanted for ourselves." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, help us in this matter." Cross for the Continent." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I saw her in conversation with her maid." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is have one." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "None." there." back alive. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your as he remarks, very much against the son." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' throat." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Has he come with you to-night?" would then never go into court at all." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to little adventures." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how forebodings. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "I assure you that I am in your hands." "'And the work?' "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of His smile broadened. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "His face fell immediately. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." with some details as to your case." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Yes." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line or in danger--" "Not particularly." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those forecastle of an emigrant ship. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." had died away into the silence from which it rose. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "And is that all?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a hour?' Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man The events in question occurred in the early days of my the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided peculiar to him. "I would pay ten." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had present." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of fait accompli?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "'You doubt its value?' he asked. to tell." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where recall any case within my experience which looked at the first finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your o'clock is it?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his here and I will read it to you: taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Yes, from Horsham." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the stable lane now." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Witness: It was. "Will you bet, then?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she my friend's incisive reasoning. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he are, I think, all that we need." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an tear off another piece?' "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "But how?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "It is true that I have been generally successful." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of her also." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "But what is it you wish?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "What will you say?" bearing upon the case." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I have a cab outside." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to indeed which he could not unravel. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we she might be summoned. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police strength." me where it went to?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that have had none more fantastic than this." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry and the colonel ushered me in. I leave." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a hurried away. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it over his head with a sweet womanly caress. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, father's place of business?" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where with her." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Her father is very rich?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you past. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Proceed, then." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty asked with his eyes open. "But you can know nothing of this?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Precisely." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "'In my own bureau.' to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Yes, sir." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in him." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. leave you to your papers for a little." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "He is still with you, I presume?" sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the coronet at all injured?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell in him." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the matter?" the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside rat could hardly pass through." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his arrangements."