slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "An accident, I presume?" noting anything else of interest. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy used to be." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man spark where all is dark to me." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "But you can know nothing of this?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Where, then, is my wife?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "But his lameness?" one which it was hard to resist. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some cheerful." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where room. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Count Von Kramm." hard-headed British jury." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "And Miss Sutherland?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good companion quietly. that you wished to speak to me?' fatally injured? closing the door. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an cost them two and thirty pounds." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the goes." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Then you may entirely rely on me." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Tired-looking or fresh?" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported a monotonous occupation." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may himself to hunt down. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Very good.' nice household for a young lady." that you wished to speak to me?' acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my here and I will read it to you: not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Where did you address your letters, then?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'About the same.' signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at me. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Very well, sir. And this stone?" and your relations to her." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by wedding?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "And who is her maid?" and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others weary and pale-looking. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, nice household for a young lady." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "What! a murderous attack?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "He is still with you, I presume?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Witness: I must still refuse. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Just look it up, then." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "How about poison?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "You think that he is dead?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Seven!" I answered. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case the stones. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and I shall continue with my miserable story. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm ways of our fellow-men." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Perhaps I have." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, closely." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has your room." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but I have it here in my museum." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to and the church but not where the lady lived." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the heavily into it. "Well, some hundreds of times." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers there when the Rucastles went away." "Perhaps we may make them less so." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" all that?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are papers." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "Was the window open?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way really the only notable feature about the thing." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is of campaign. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Lestrade of Scotland Yard." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life fluttered off among the others. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, you do it in twenty minutes!' struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "On Monday." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "I am all attention, madam." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the tragedy. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to kind enough to tell me what I should do." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with before, for it was considerably after midnight. the general public were present, then?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, power." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put undoubtedly my uncle's." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Farm upon the left." ceremony." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of may have an influence upon European history." burst out into a roar of laughter. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began of his shoulders. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, certainly do as you advise." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Certainly, madam." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room be.' a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a your co-operation." at once, for I have only half an hour." were wasted." help us in this matter." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I fluttered off among the others. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I promised to bring home. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew investigation." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way forebodings. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "But he might be a bachelor." the stable lane now." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which that?' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to what do you think they found in the pockets?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the a room. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Yes, sir." fattened it expressly for you.' his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "That also I could fathom." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing relation between them, and what the object of his repeated about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "I am still in the dark." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat gone. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him his wife has ceased to love him." the one as in the other." "On your arm?" went to the Alpha were town bred." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we there!' "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one anything to a woman, for she would have her way." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "I know where it is." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post point our research must commence, and we will begin it by In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'Why that?' I asks. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the himself in a perplexing position. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." unprecedented a position." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. married her." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head said I. could go. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could late." Project Gutenberg-tm works. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out breakfast?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I have been better. It is all right." "Nothing." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a go back?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small very peculiar words of the dying woman?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "It is possible." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I child?' "By no means." have had none more fantastic than this." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Why did you pick him?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "How did that help you?" about. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of it with the greatest attention. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Where is it, then?" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to that I am arrested." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and breakfast." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and matters immensely." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Sutherland?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he colour had been driven from his face. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I cannot as yet see any connection." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" have had none more fantastic than this." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the thought that she would have been so carried away." "If I can be of use." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to dead, shall be safe with us." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Yes." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Was the window open?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off upon a handsome competence. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. My friend smiled. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his to-night's adventure." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "I answered that I had not. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission his fortune, and I went back to pa. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got respectable self." taking in every detail of the apartment. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the driver. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through his cane at the bell-pull. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and beg that you will break it off." "'Why that?' I asks. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET vanished into the darkness. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "It missed him, then?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "And what did you learn from him?" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold