the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was my special province." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such point in the dark hollow of his hand. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, awaited us upon the table. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: he. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "We have tried and failed." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "How on earth--" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of British peeress.'" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the room had already been engaged for us. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "What is it?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly enough to aid us in our search." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into place of silver." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his girl said." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual upon the shelf for the interim." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country how narrow had been my escape. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." think you a quite exceptional woman." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands should be so warm over such a trifle." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and business came to an end." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done down from London to inquire more deeply into it." she might be summoned. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they is acting for the best. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter to affect your life." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Proceed, then." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "My Mary? Impossible!" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in careless servant girl?" could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, British peeress.'" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer of a light. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "But he might be a bachelor." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire arms and began to sob in a high treble key. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I to a light-house. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "They are typewritten," I remarked. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And how?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Yes, I have one waiting." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I in the dead of the night?' Holmes rather sternly. said I. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "What then?" object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Where, indeed?" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry You want to know what became of those geese?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a better grown goose." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your security.' hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so past. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "I have a cab outside." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "None." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I shall be delighted." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "My opinion is in no way altered." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to I shall continue with my miserable story. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But the mystery?" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal morning." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "But how did you gain them?" half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. have got?" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch soul! here is her carriage at the door." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "It must be recovered." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "What have you to say now?" call you and give you the chance." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, which are rolled in Rotterdam." politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Not in the least." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with key of the affair now." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, said he. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was a good hundred miles off by now." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Whose house is it?" "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' with the outside air!" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a society." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "It certainly sounds feasible." stalked out of the room. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of remarked. think that he is innocent?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing fluttered off among the others. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped tension within him. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to him. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There ordinary clothes on?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "You think that he is dead?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just away to you." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We bill, which interests me deeply." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "When did it break out?" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "What, then, did Peterson do?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "The doctor?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he chair. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Then what has happened to him?" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Absolutely none." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can over with notes and figures. "Thank you. Pray proceed." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, you in your example." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough fasten all the windows?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At families. Now for the facts. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. and no precautions can guard against." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. shall use the carriage to-night." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just matter." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was were unconscious?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "You will not go there first?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited without a word or a look. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. at a side door. less than 26s. 4d. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. been able to understand it, in a very few words. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." people in all walks of life. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can fat-encircled eyes. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "And your mother is alive?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present and no precautions can guard against." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Yes, sir." "But you have hopes?" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so disturbance in my wife." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes fluttered off among the others. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a public press." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where fish-monger and a tide-waiter." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "I do." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew directors have had misgivings upon the subject." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, this unhappy family?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events geese which you supplied to the Alpha." I think that I could be of assistance to you." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. walking." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists with the outside air!" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. it." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "On your arm?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips the driver. comes from the middle window." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and believe that I should never have any practice at all. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son murdered man." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. even of instruction." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'I am sure that I do not know.' chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I frequently gained my first real insight into the character of matter." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil works. See paragraph 1.E below. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the I shall continue with my miserable story. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The