"And did you observe any change in her then?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would most interesting one." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time daring than any effort of the imagination." "What is it, then--a fire?" and the whole place is in a blaze." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. out." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "And Miss Sutherland?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, maid will bring up your coffee." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming business came to an end." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the acquaintance?" papers on the sundial.'" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its door?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and showing my impatience. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you seem to you to be relevant or not." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner that?' for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared rooms." said he. said he. "Very truly yours, familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the passage and a tap at the door. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and and put his glass in his pocket. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive it were putty." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. other, as fresh and trim as possible. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself deduce something from that?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came straighten it?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "You will not go there first?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "But how will you look?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could night.' said he. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, waste of energy." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I awaited us upon the table. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "How many? I don't know." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in fled together." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged once more to my work. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the gone. own family. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "My stepfather's business papers." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it is a common subject for conversation. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "No, I am descending." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, chill to my heart. and no precautions can guard against." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in secret." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Witness: I must still refuse. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect roused himself from his reverie. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "It is half-past ten now." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a I leave." "I think that it is very probable." "No, my brougham is waiting." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor begin with, and I had not got mine yet." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must skylight. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his brought there to personate someone, and the real person is home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "To an English lawyer named Norton." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, for securing the situation." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "The doctor?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Clair, of Lee." "Yes?" "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I upon the white wrist. "I shall most certainly do so." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "I am sure." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in key of the affair now." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, comes from the middle window." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not awkward doing business with an alias." before the coroner and the police-court." sneer upon his pale face. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the maid will bring up your coffee." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so giving me time to thank him. "But he might be a bachelor." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I think it very unlikely." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the bearing upon the case." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had too. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Serpentine Avenue. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Yes." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "And sit in the dark?" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Not in a good cause." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony down in his armchair and closing his eyes. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" a few minutes he said that it would be all right. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the Red-headed League." a monotonous occupation." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the assist you in forming an opinion." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I shall most certainly do so." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Of what day?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his swore that no one else had been in the front room during the any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a populous neighbourhood." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to comes from the middle window." "He said that you could solve anything." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the hard-headed British jury." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then down in his armchair and closing his eyes. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "That you are never beaten." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Holmes' face clouded over. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "How did you trace it, then?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go question," said Holmes, smiling. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special investigation." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Who was the criminal, then?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the running down." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his society." my special province." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was six. Come in!" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just went to the Alpha were town bred." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you tear off another piece?' light and attacked it." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon most interesting one." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened this as likely?" "Then what has happened to him?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "No, I am descending." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, I am not easy in my mind about them." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "It may not come to that," said Holmes. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "The doctor?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His confronted him. charged with?" had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. reach." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to surprise her." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "In which, sir?" enter into my head. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'How far from the body?' "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious beg that you will break it off." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry him nearly every evening." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival then?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable examine." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary friends, not even his own brother. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a ready to-morrow?' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the south-west, I see." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows views." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle John Swain, of St. Augustine. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and is so. I know all about McCarthy." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "On your arm?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that spare." quite distinctive." room?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' train.' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, said he. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I do."