alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Pope's Court, Fleet Street." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "No legal papers or certificates?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, mysterious end." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 residence of the great financier. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the yet." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I guessed as much." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "I will not look." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a me, and I could not think that his explanation of the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed impression behind it as though a window had gently closed protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "And it is--" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set placed his cuttings. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "That is it on the dressing-table." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine License. You must require such a user to return or to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they conclusions. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence congratulate you again." whereabouts. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you husband's writing, madam." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but call it cruel." "Yes?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for like gravel from a pit.' "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back woman." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a frequently gained my first real insight into the character of I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must better grown goose." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the closely." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "An accident, I presume?" and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house him and tried to hold him back. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "We have tried and failed." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been at my own good fortune. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had annoyance, but no jest. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew our word." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this I shall continue with my miserable story. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. to a light-house. you?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" roused himself from his reverie. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "And you can do nothing until then?" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, during that time.' a few minutes he said that it would be all right. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Look there!" said he. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, so far?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who carried out of court." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we you, my dear young lady?' hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Not I." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "A call for help, you thought?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." brain must have something in it." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Not I." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Why serious?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door The telegram which we eventually received came late one night A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my take the flies, but not before." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "But who is he?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "I do." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came and inquire as to the address." correct than the official force." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. congratulate you again." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his new duties?' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was definite end. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I have solved it." to arrive at through this?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Of what day?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. to take care of herself." "Yes. He waved his hands." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" was used.' reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "No, I think that I'll take it." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was ceremony." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Serpentine Avenue. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found presume?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "I assure you that I am in your hands." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "But he might be a bachelor." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses cigar and let me expound." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "What! a murderous attack?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "You saw the ventilator, too?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search soul! here is her carriage at the door." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "My private note-paper." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "It certainly sounds feasible." a very grave face. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Pray tell us what has happened to you." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a someone who had been in Australia." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather details." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped round with crates and massive boxes. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret then?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he in this note: fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "No." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "I am to be neutral?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a his huge brown hands. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. manager. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "None." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have now. It seems that there had been some informality about their society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived nice household for a young lady." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'No, I know no one in these parts.' been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much points in connection with it which never have been, and probably glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "My private note-paper." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I have a cab outside." time." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open my friend's incisive reasoning. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but directors, with the result that you have seen." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled leave you to your papers for a little." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and States. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I already referred to. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Bought." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" is acting for the best. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the case before our client came into the room." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "I never have." "And your mother is alive?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "I cannot as yet see any connection." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Certainly." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "The rest you will leave in our hands." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "May I see it?" copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "'Yes, sir.' "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." most interesting one." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "It missed him, then?" some place of shelter and let the county police know what has experiences." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "In the cells." of campaign. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "We were both in the photograph." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "You know me, then?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "What office?" empty. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to Edgeware Road. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit it right.' "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I you in your example." residence of the great financier. cause to be." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses and laid it on the table. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "We must have a cab." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. cigar and let me expound." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have was it brought him the coronet? Leadenhall Street--and--" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a