asked. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Of what?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to think, you have already met." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good crime. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers down in his armchair and closing his eyes. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Won't it ring?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. annoyance, but no jest. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a of a light. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "No more words. Get out!" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Oh, the cause is excellent!" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'You cannot say what it was?' my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider gentleman's clothes. your co-operation." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Thank you. And your address?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such wall." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "What of the rat, then?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "It is very kind of you." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I indeed happy." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" such attractions and accomplishments?' Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the written. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very very morning of my second wedding." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the all that?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, McCarthy's innocence. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "I would pay ten." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Then you may be so with me." "You have but to name it." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "A call for help, you thought?" time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of unprofitable." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. mystery may be cleared along those lines." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely nonsense.' "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "But I have heard all that you have heard." "'And the work?' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should You want to know what became of those geese?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, sound at heart." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which coroner's jury." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" strode off upon his way. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Stoke Moran." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "It missed him, then?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the Assizes." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this union?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "You have compromised yourself seriously." back to my heart. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Do you know him?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "It missed him, then?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain tell me that you intended to go into harness." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies man. I know him from the photograph." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "No." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Yes, it was twisted." breakfast?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always examine." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of his huge brown hands. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Could he throw no light?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Will you go?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there fasten all the windows?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a morning." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a allusion to a rat. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "'And what salary do you ask?' floor. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the were wasted." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES followed. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is cup of tea. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "But how?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he you." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "And I to find an enemy." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change along the entire front of the house, with three long windows months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Ah, but I was recommended to you." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "I cannot say that I have." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Oh, fresh and glossy." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just the one as in the other." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was foot. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Yes." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm your sleep?' "Why serious?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but province." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Nothing?" one of them." just called myself is not exactly my own." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the very old mansion. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your manager. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white look dissatisfied." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point the room while you explain this matter?" so.' "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after second." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Not him." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you of Mr. Rucastle's." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had which we had just quitted. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "You have but to name it." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction so.' He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at mysterious business." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for you, my dear young lady?' suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy there is a decided draught." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little helping a boy to put up the shutters. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no I approached. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "'Yes.' "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man I approached. there." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Then I am your man." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Pray continue your narrative." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the highly," said Holmes. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the date of his supposed suicide." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear away to you." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock my room." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." one's self under obligations.' had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the asked. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "I would pay ten." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "My dear Holmes!" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco coat-tails." "Well, but China?" business." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him Street. was feeling which was the fattest.' "What steps will you take?" I asked. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we the roots. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions to-night?" I asked. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard you want, then?' "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he not personally threatened." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these to you." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and the very letters. But what is this written above them?' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Nothing." photograph?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." disappearance of these gems?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Indeed! Whose, then?" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" heavily into it. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just galvanised. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. at my own good fortune. at my remark. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a business?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was front of the hall door has given its name to the place. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the coroner come to?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the had formerly been in part my own. which was all perfectly true. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story promised to bring home. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went and put his glass in his pocket. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the King without delay." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for keep the flames under. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, http://gutenberg.net/license). "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "May I see it?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his fishes. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "From his hat?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "He is dead," cried several voices. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'And the work?' impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily sound at heart." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided