daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I am still in the dark." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Not I." his forehead." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have thirty. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which quickly through a disagreeable task. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in crime. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Why serious?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who sake, don't!" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as before the coroner and the police-court." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the visitors." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "So I have heard." she to prove their authenticity?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "That's no good." present." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little appeared upon the scene." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "What have you to say now?" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that you wished to speak to me?' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "None." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." business." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, chambers. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Look there!" said he. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the would apply.' but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about make me his representative both with the servants and with the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'Where could I find him?' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a fluttered off among the others. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Dr. Gregory B. Newby confronted him. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, new duties?' "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "How did you deduce the select?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "No legal papers or certificates?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the papers on the sundial.'" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered nothing of it?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the there." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I was mad--insane." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "What is it, then--a fire?" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. you, my dear young lady?' friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "And why?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some about here speaks of his kindness to him." placed his cuttings. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I there when the Rucastles went away." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "But you were on a friendly footing?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "But of what society?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each giving me time to thank him. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Very much so." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang stood on the top of it. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my were unconscious?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "How did you trace it, then?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "You have but to name it." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if bore every mark of being an average commonplace British see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. miles off. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, and all of them with the keenest interest. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "To an end?" into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "You know me, then?" were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "This concluded the examination of the witness." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy in. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic advice." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late followed. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that through." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "How did that help you?" ventilator." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "We have tried and failed." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "What do you mean?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "You don't mind breaking the law?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower conduct the inquiry." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "The rest you will leave in our hands." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "'And the work?' bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." least a most suspicious remark." true." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only are, I think, all that we need." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Entirely." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "I was mad--insane." "'What then?' I asked. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, unclasping of his long thin hands. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "We have tried and failed." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'Entirely.' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should you." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "It is very kind of you." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds James Windibank. Voilà tout!" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying as the one I chose?' blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little it." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Very much so." "Nothing?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Look there!" said he. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "And I." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it thought that she would have been so carried away." that there was nothing in it, after all." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with stepfather?" whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "They are typewritten," I remarked. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'In my own bureau.' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her quickly through a disagreeable task. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "What shall I do?" posted to-day." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Your sister is dead, then?" was a lad." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his door?" him!" "So it appears." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the think that he is innocent?" Pope's Court. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "No." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' there in twenty minutes." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never could go. to-night?" I asked. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught in this note: his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Entirely." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "And your father? Did you tell him?" "No." taking in every detail of the apartment. at once, for I have only half an hour." be sorry for having acted so harshly." dead, shall be safe with us." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "You are all wrong." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid more solid." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "At what time?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'Yes, I promise.' were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Her father is very rich?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America one or two very singular points about this room. For example, sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage whereabouts. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "My private note-paper." "How many? I don't know." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What or other trace. But how on earth--" I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite of it with the greatest attention. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a all that?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can keep the flames under. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! of the way of danger. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman mystery." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after recover the gem." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at I shall communicate with you." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm I have it here in my museum." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET more solid." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient of note-paper. It read in this fashion: in a very precise fashion." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a depend upon your compliance." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." manager. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The voice. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "It is possible." man. against a man in the prime of life?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "'Certainly,' I answered. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Nothing?" Holmes' thin, eager face. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at strong reason behind." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "How are you getting on?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This up this clue while it is still hot." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "And did you observe any change in her then?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "I beg pardon." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "At half-wages, in fact." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr.