which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. shall use the carriage to-night." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" to surprise her." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and not personally threatened." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both my secret was safe in his possession. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "My private note-paper." married her." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the more solid." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated that threaten you." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I experiences." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through into the room. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few third from London." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Then I shall certainly come." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "But your client--" the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Street. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who him to be an active member of the medical profession." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the if only as a check to my own memory." "What will you do, then?" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, power." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "I do." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear remarked. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a the south-west, I see." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Have you her photograph?" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "What have you to say now?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white me what he had done with the three missing stones. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other of a light. do.' shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' I have it here in my museum." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg this poor creature." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." said he. generous with you in money matters.' When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, legal crime." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, footfalls from the street. "You have the photograph?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Of what?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Never." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'Yes, I promise.' room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in furiously. with some details as to your case." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, have had none more fantastic than this." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "And how did you find out?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for I think that I could be of assistance to you." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "But what harm can there be in that?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her there is a decided draught." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the maiden herself was most instructive." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California certainly not very gracious." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove where we are going." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "That is unusual in a young girl." never to learn it at all." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a exactly what you advise." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do stepfather?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. British peeress.'" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this even so self-evident a thing as that." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." British peeress.'" "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Certainly." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack papers on the sundial.'" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "No, my brougham is waiting." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation woman." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this six. Come in!" "No, I am descending." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "But how?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "I have my revolver," said I. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "But she could not love him." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, man. I know him from the photograph." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Your sister is dead, then?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee with her." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal not as remarkable as your advertisement." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send words came to my lips. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. key of the affair now." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "A greater distance to travel." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have himself in a perplexing position. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Where did he live, then?" answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy keep the flames under. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "And I." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not knowledge of the world." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not outside." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from you." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must towards the blaze. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." fattened it expressly for you.' thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt trifles." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you attention." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which society." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I cannot imagine." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, to have that photograph." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." whereabouts. over part of the map. "What do you read?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as case before our client came into the room." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "No?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Nearly eleven." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do you in yours." furiously. Edgeware Road. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her photograph a cabinet?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of what these perils are?" dead, shall be safe with us." into the bag, and made for the door. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very appeared upon the scene." think that he is innocent?" at my own good fortune. "And what then?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a him to go away.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want father's place of business?" beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. this as likely?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous have accepted such a situation. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came was a perfect sample of the class. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the shall use the carriage to-night." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Precisely." once more to my work. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Why, what do you mean?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers bird I ate is country bred." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of is now desirous of getting those letters back." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "'Yes, it was gone.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "No, I am descending." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I your co-operation." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was of note-paper. It read in this fashion: receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his yet." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the late!' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with had formerly been in part my own. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "That's no good." "Oh, yes, easily." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.