their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign said he. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, of your young ladies.' Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it better grown goose." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "You think so, too?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "It must be recovered." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your But Holmes shook his head gravely. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "You know me, then?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others guilty one." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" go from here to the Strand." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a dates and names. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door letters?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." noting anything else of interest. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in McCarthy." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Not particularly." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Could he throw no light?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is knowledge of the world." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Then he might have called to you?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. might help us?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "You horrify me!" "Then how many are there?" of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the said he, "my real name is James Ryder." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "No, but the enclosure is." go from here to the Strand." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to From what you have told me I think that it is possible that edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in to-night?" I asked. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "To ruin me." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm emerged. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to works. See paragraph 1.E below. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" The King stared at him in amazement. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. did not hear it also.' I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are key turn in the lock." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country instituted." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Dr. Becher's." Eyford at 11:15.' Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take You can understand that this register and diary may implicate has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for which are rolled in Rotterdam." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would here." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "No." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, morning." there has been an enclosure here!" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Yes." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic other, as fresh and trim as possible. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have as this. Pray let me have the details." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do mystery may be cleared along those lines." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. crackling voice. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. seen the man in the road." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "'I am sure that I do not know.' pressing in one house as in another. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "I see many objections to any such theory." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Perfectly so." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the there when the Rucastles went away." telegram would bring me down to your help." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. there." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked coroner's jury." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Yes, sir." "You think so, too?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you said Mr. Holder. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp quite distinctive." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed his eyes and forehead. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "'And what salary do you ask?' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Pray be precise as to details," said he. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an guilty one." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was your billet.' enter into my head. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this when your master had gone out." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the fasten all the windows?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "What have you to say now?" days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I think that it is very probable." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never ready to-morrow?' down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, there!' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, papers on the sundial.'" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." himself. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as out of this horrible affair." distinguish the words: the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Thank you. And your address?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a lips." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Have you it here?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the nothing with him." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of in this note: Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have business." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "She told me to ask you." read over the extraordinary announcement. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' walking." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net infinite languor in his face. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our without a word or a look. "He is dead," cried several voices. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Will you go?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' brain must have something in it." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his ill-usage at the hands of fortune. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Not particularly." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Quite so. She has her freedom." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she I leave." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's quickly through a disagreeable task. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case disturbance in my wife." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "My opinion is in no way altered." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "He slept on the premises." examine." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. and have this put in the evening papers." quick march!" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "The murder was done with it." upon a handsome competence. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Yes, all." Again Holmes raved in the air. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than to have that photograph." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "'You cannot say what it was?' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the next day. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far detective. writing, and yet I know it well." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger that, and I came down." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are forbidden door. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "None." go--none." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "My private note-paper." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not closing the door. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at stepfather?" do." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen whole matter to your consideration." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "And when will you call?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this yards of it?' straighten it?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical will be renamed. might help us?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and important." carpenter." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their the coronet in his hand?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors so.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "I should like to see him very much." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and had picked up in the wood. "I don't believe it." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "In the cells." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That me. You must get home instantly and act." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "No." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Munro.' if she died from some sudden fright." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate.