hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "But how could you guess what the motive was?" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "And how?" "A confidential servant?" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable the matter?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "No, my brougham is waiting." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Yes." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "He said too much." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple status with the IRS. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Absolutely none." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Just look it up, then." outside. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "No." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "What, then, did Peterson do?" them?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. gives a meaning to it." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No mysterious end." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a of." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Not at all. I only doubt--' business matters.' charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever awaited us upon the table. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered signal between you and your father? ill-usage at the hands of fortune. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful prisoner's face. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the coroner come to?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Could he throw no light?" "'Is purely nominal.' permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low depend upon your compliance." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during have established a very serious case against the son of the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who excitement. will take you up to see the machine.' were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "I will not look." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "I cannot imagine." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the matter?" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and chair. into the bag, and made for the door. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told himself in a perplexing position. bachelor.' conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "And how did he make his money?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was it." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this own family. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, present." "That is easily got." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting standing smiling on the door-step. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "What is it?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "And now?" He raised his hand. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the conceal it?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George as yours." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name derbies." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Foundation the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Was the window open?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I suspect him." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the hard-headed British jury." not fit the lock." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "'Yes, sir.' "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the Holmes. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "To the police?" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose James Windibank. Voilà tout!" see a sister of mine apply for." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built into the room. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' his huge brown hands. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you you in yours." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our back into the street. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Then I do not see the point." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he case before our client came into the room." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." like that before?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Clair, of Lee." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, minor matters until to-morrow." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold we went to search for him, face downward in a little dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, examine." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the DISSOLVED. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner information in his hands the value of which he did not himself that?' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the beyond words. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such think you a quite exceptional woman." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'Yes, sir.' clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is were new raised from a basin. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining been with you?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Nothing." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger business." asked. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "You saw the ventilator, too?" my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I noise which awoke you from your sleep?" comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "And that is--" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Nor running a chance of arrest?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" do you make of it all?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could always that they were such commands as a lady might with "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the attention." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "About a month then." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a to miss it." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring promised to bring home. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, persecution?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Entirely." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are washing it down with a long draught of water. points to suicide?" them present such singular features as the strange train of our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' with the outside air!" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each in him." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this all?" PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of chair. tail." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "I will not look." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "No legal papers or certificates?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of to that open window." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. been shamefully used." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Yes, it was twisted." breakfast." "And the murderer?" suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. said he. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom away into the river." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Look there!" said he. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Pray let us have it, for all that." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Serpentine Avenue. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such she might be summoned. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she where we are going." chair. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." as the one I chose?' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It God! What an exposure! What can I do?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "I cannot tell." success. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have own family. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could disappearance of these gems?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out any." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so you for a few hours?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "I say it is." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "You have a clue?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" thin legs towards the fire. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was relief. off." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He or other trace. But how on earth--" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Yes, from Horsham." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "There is the writing." "'Oh, no.' entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Upon what point?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. weary and pale-looking. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "You are all wrong." careless servant girl?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang and looked back. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "What of the rat, then?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat invisible to me," I remarked. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to he. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as hurried by. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless