the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if time." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Only as much as we can deduce." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in salesman. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the best of training." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and I shall be with you presently." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, hereditary King of Bohemia." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then directors, with the result that you have seen." problems help me to do so." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "What shall I do?" story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in one of them." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which done what I asked you, Jones?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. you." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done eavesdroppers?' "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself of Fenchurch Street." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked do.' editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." even of instruction." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder John Swain, of St. Augustine. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." the coronet at all injured?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the lamp. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET I nodded to show that I had heard. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Married! When?" inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter papers." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "It is half-past ten now." arrangements." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Can I be of assistance?" off." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of really the only notable feature about the thing." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Certainly." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which ventilator." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'I have heard so.' "Yes, sir." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the soul! here is her carriage at the door." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was a monotonous occupation." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." ventilator." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Will you go?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. companion imperturbably. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in take the flies, but not before." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them do you make of it all?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, companion imperturbably. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door all-comprehensive glances. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying my special province." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the gigantic client. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "Then you may be so with me." conduct the inquiry." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. words came to my lips. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "It's nothing of the kind." has little to do with my story." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at of the efforts of the United States government and of the better lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook to-night's adventure." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" better grown goose." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I it with his own hands." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain know what is wrong with it.' in him." is," said he presently: himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he ventilator." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the disappearance of these gems?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Nothing." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. and looked back. "How are you getting on?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "And did you observe any change in her then?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Where, then?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his footfalls from the street. them?" tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the to tell." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "May I see it?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in girl said." best detective that ever lived. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'In my own bureau.' down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Did he not advertise?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more the one as in the other." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear certainly not very gracious." humiliation." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons passage and a tap at the door. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or photograph?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do companion. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Does that suggest anything?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'Ample.' closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "It was." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock ill-usage at the hands of fortune. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we colour had been driven from his face. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the his fortune, and I went back to pa. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out them, and came down just as you departed. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I if I call to-morrow?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Which surely he restored to their owner?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: observed. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "I will try. What is it?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's to me. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out more solid." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently would apply.' they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he walking." down. certainly do as you advise." bears upon the case?" of them has the shutters up.' "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after and a shock of very red hair. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "What can it mean?" I gasped. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "None." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there papers." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "It was an hour's good drive." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Dark enough and sinister enough." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Nothing." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' way in." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "'No, I know no one in these parts.' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "None." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't young Openshaw's." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave would then never go into court at all." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Precisely." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "What then?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the me. You must get home instantly and act." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "One of his hands." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his leave you to your papers for a little." like gravel from a pit.' bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her and files of the old papers, following the future career of every very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public him. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his father's place of business?" following enigmatical notices: chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to weighed down with some great anxiety. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "You horrify me!" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and putting in the horse. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." weary and pale-looking. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my nothing of it?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Nor running a chance of arrest?" before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side nice household for a young lady." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that already been minutely examined." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "But what harm can there be in that?" "That is possible." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in there when the Rucastles went away." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "'About the same.' multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "But how did you gain them?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his just called myself is not exactly my own." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "In what way?" asked Holmes. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. depend upon my doing so.' her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were outside." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "The doctor?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence them?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Never." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup assist you in forming an opinion." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and