dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Serpentine Avenue. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I you give your casting vote to?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the promised to bring home. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Witness: I must still refuse. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the ceiling. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the opened the door, and slipped through. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal acquaintance?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. there!' already been minutely examined." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could have not had my rubber." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was and it need not interfere very much with one's other Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'And the work?' "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Won't it ring?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "It is possible." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater speckled band?" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant tapping his fingers upon the table. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful criminal. We have already had experience of such." enter Dr. Roylott's room." For additional contact information: 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his McCarthy's innocence. such person." "Yes, sir." trifles." "How do you know, then?" my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but at my own good fortune. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "'Yes, it was gone.' "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no tell me that you intended to go into harness." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been prove to be little relation between the different incidents of figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "It was." generous with you in money matters.' before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Then I can wait in the next room." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the were new raised from a basin. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I *** START: FULL LICENSE *** these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." was lame." "My dear Holmes!" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "What then?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "That is easily got." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Really! You surprise me." "Yes." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." me what he had done with the three missing stones. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the families. Now for the facts. matter over." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Watson," he said cordially. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency visitors." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "One?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried the little opening for the ventilator is." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to there is a decided draught." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "And you can do nothing until then?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as enough to aid us in our search." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your fear." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" introspective fashion. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, new acquaintance to Baker Street. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon been able to understand it, in a very few words. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank once more on the important position which you have been fortunate suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "My own seal." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, in his hands." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there to have been novel and of interest." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "And did you observe any change in her then?" them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a both be extremely obliged.' experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Witness: It was. jewels which you have stolen?' A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I For additional contact information: pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." how narrow had been my escape. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down closing the door. "Nothing." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose served to weaken the effect. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." stalked out of the room. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case delirious. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "What then?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of gone. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "To an end?" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging never came back." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what learned something! Where are the gems?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and if I call to-morrow?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, direction." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that if I call to-morrow?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I friends, not even his own brother. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the window, rose as we entered. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming despair." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what the matter." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. that I can to serve you." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "A call for help, you thought?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact the stones. "Yes." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I don't believe it." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for examine." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story man. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, rooms." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled round and wave him away like that.' prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "I am all attention, madam." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "And now?" He raised his hand. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is shoulder; "he's all right." burst out into a roar of laughter. entirely lost his self-respect." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Nor running a chance of arrest?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly before, for it was considerably after midnight. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Perhaps we may make them less so." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. one else, I think." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left and no precautions can guard against." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell his fortune, and I went back to pa. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me province." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a all-comprehensive glances. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something call for it in person on Monday morning.' the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe swore that no one else had been in the front room during the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Cross for the Continent." even of instruction." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Witness: Nothing definite. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily the driver. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Very much so." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an I am not easy in my mind about them." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on train from Paddington which would bring you there at about hand, madam?" "And I say east," said my patient. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the very morning of the wedding." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "And how?" "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him quite distinctive." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every chamber." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Well, some hundreds of times." room. union?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Pray continue your narrative." "Ha! you find it so?" handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even absolutely follow my advice in every respect." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, murdered man." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 you." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Only as much as we can deduce." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "By all means." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "It is very clear." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is of the vacancies.' black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Has he come with you to-night?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' address. kindly on the shoulder. "Nearly eleven." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my do.' "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more where Mr. Fordham shows you.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. interests were the same as his."