so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Stolen." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; whereabouts. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "The Cedars?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Where, then?" upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am was lame." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second other, as fresh and trim as possible. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the prepare for the new role I have to play." made his money." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "It is a murder, then?" and your relations to her." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of me upon any point which I do not make clear." a room. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which your billet.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. morning." believe that I should never have any practice at all. hurried away. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was keenly on my guard against him. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, and a shock of very red hair. astonishment. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "So I heard. You have him here?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Dr. Becher's." "Ha! you find it so?" present." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, strength in the others." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." touch that coronet?' head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had empty. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a and effective." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of there." get the tickets." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but assist you in forming an opinion." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was south, for the country is more deserted there." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "'There is a drive, then?' doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "When did she vanish, then?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, is a common subject for conversation. it. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "By train from Waterloo." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "'I have heard so.' "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' miles off. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the some water from a caraffe. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as constraint." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they you understand?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "You think that he is dead?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real strength in the others." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Yes." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project straighten it?" the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was her also." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my forehead. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Who was the criminal, then?" detective. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in pity, because in other respects you would really have done very electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found envelope. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering himself to tell his story. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Again Holmes raved in the air. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "I cannot tell." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the other means.' very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and opened a pocket-book and took out a note. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Dr. Becher's." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I am armed." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the yourselves in at night?" on in his house." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to pressing in one house as in another. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our the morning and make my own way in the world.' "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "'And what salary do you ask?' present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wife's character?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "And I to find an enemy." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "No, finished." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very will not take me long to tell. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass compunction about shooting them down." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her strode off upon his way. my room." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and forebodings. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried horse could go." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed province." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "But you would not advise me to refuse?" one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "'And the work?' the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was breakfast and whispered something to her husband. forebodings. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "But he might be a bachelor." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "You horrify me." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "And how in the world did you find them?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular key turn in the lock." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for you." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography becomes even more simple." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." would then never go into court at all." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain upon the shelf for the interim." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own past. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a became a certainty. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off papers on the sundial.'" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in at my own good fortune. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while man. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Pray continue your narrative." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "It is possible." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was fluttered off among the others. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over existence." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able kindly on the shoulder. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "I say it is." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "But how did you gain them?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Mrs. Toller serenely. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this instincts rose up against that laugh. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had any little problem which you may submit to me." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "You have compromised yourself seriously." bird of prey. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very 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 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and danger is over." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), villagers almost as much as their master. residence of the great financier. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little goes." "Never." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "At the wedding breakfast." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He we went to search for him, face downward in a little down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what security.' "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man to-night." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "A greater distance to travel." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it your bag." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too chambers. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" I held the little printed slip to the light. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace miles off. humiliation." bears upon the case?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "I will not look." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his already been minutely examined." "'Yes, it was gone.' submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white papers on the sundial.'" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." followed. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." conduct the inquiry." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. and capable of preserving a secret.' "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" face and glided from the room. from you?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of lamp. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a matters immensely." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too sake, don't!" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" child?' appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Then he might have called to you?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not green of the new foliage. situation." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."