you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? have accepted such a situation. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I happened." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'Yes, I promise.' life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just I shall continue with my miserable story. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "A client, then?" "10th. John Swain cleared. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. address. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "That's no good." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "How on earth--" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed papers must be those that are destroyed.' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "But I have heard all that you have heard." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy she to prove their authenticity?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "That is unusual in a young girl." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of matter." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Nothing?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a business came to an end." the so-precious time, but come!' poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "She will not sell." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Why did you beat the pavement?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." from you?" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a made his money." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant clang of the bell. "How often?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "In what way?" asked Holmes. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for companion. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Tired-looking or fresh?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Foundation Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "I was mad--insane." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he presented which may be striking and bizarre without being no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'Is purely nominal.' cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would which are rolled in Rotterdam." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. I have it here in my museum." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "How about poison?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the general public were present, then?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Foundation places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the and have this put in the evening papers." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, drove away. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I am armed." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent bare slabs of marble. "When did she vanish, then?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; late!' up this clue while it is still hot." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed detective. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to door?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, that you wished to speak to me?' the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "What can you not understand?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and I approached. "I will, Miss Turner." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to for its centre. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I cannot imagine." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the for the market.' human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of strength." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "My dear Holmes!" with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "That is not always so easy." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. breakfast." face and glided from the room. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them that, and I came down." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it writer." voice, changing her seat as requested. "'Yes.' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Surrey." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for eavesdroppers?' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about question you as to those details which seem to me to be most of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the certainly not very gracious." should be so warm over such a trifle." front of me. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his thin legs towards the fire. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "My photograph." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not have one." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more hardly wander." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his neither fascinating nor artistic." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a quite distinctive." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "How on earth--" true." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked flock.' minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "In answer to an advertisement." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, waste of energy." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom or in danger--" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been chance at all." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "VIOLET HUNTER." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled ventilator." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "And now?" I asked. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not who was a member of your goose club." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Did your wife hear all this?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a I think that I could be of assistance to you." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "To an end?" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second cigars in their mouths. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: address. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be respectable self." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "What then?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Were they all fastened this morning?" than to us. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you could not account in any way for the presence of the missing admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, opportunities to fix the problem. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "So I have heard." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming outside. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the station." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which and wait." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very yards of it?' the coronet at all injured?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Yes, it was twisted." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and lost his Christmas dinner." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. kind enough to tell me what I should do." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "You have carte blanche." opened the door, and slipped through. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had sofa. This way, please!" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and him to be an active member of the medical profession." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, bachelor.' "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to made his money." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official always that they were such commands as a lady might with analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the there!' I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." furiously. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the devil!" instincts rose up against that laugh. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four a good hundred miles off by now." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly dear old homesteads?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of that?' good-night and bustled off upon her way. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might one which it was hard to resist. "Yes." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes narrative." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting your only hope of safety." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It Foundation To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low where she found matters as described by the last witness. with the outside air!" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is husband's writing, madam." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I am in hopes that she does." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up formed some opinion?" very old mansion. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded exactly what you advise." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is happened." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope carriage. It was a chestnut." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was the bottom.' "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Watson," he said cordially. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I assure you that I am in your hands." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? you in your example." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Holmes' thin, eager face. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I know where it is." "Was there a secret marriage?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "That is not always so easy." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' kind enough to tell me what I should do." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing peculiar to him. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took there is a decided draught." "Then, as to money?" Heh?' then?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. to-night." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up