something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which in the dead of the night?' Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Indeed! Whose, then?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "But who is he?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all relation between them, and what the object of his repeated there when the Rucastles went away." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "How do you know, then?" giving me time to thank him. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "'And the work?' "Yes. He waved his hands." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. detained." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the then?" days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he and glanced through. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is empty. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were congenial hunt. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "No sign of it?" to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." again." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming upon an income of about 60 pounds." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of occupations.' "That sounds a little paradoxical." "An accident, I presume?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "My last client of the sort was a king." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "By no means." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the placed his cuttings. friends, not even his own brother. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. posted to-day." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "The Coroner: What do you mean? Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "At half-wages, in fact." "Where, then, is my wife?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; hands. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "My dear Holmes!" to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as geese which you supplied to the Alpha." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his again before evening." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down whole matter to your consideration." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the his forehead." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' happened." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "And why?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her questioning and rather startled gaze. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one call for protection in the marriage market, for the present terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could ceremony." on in his house." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "It is true that I have been generally successful." "What is it?" recover the gem." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am asked. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable indeed which he could not unravel. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I with frightened eyes at his accuser. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their hard-headed British jury." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with served to weaken the effect. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A from you?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a open." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves to-night." chemical work which was so dear to him. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Your presence might be invaluable." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Not particularly." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Then I shall certainly come." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "You think so, too?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Nothing." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at he. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Yes, the wine-cellar." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "I am to be neutral?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he yourselves in at night?" "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will there when the Rucastles went away." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than hair?' Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a bird of prey. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white her also." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, down in his armchair and closing his eyes. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous a little more before I quite committed myself. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done society." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" digesting their breakfasts at home." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Here?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which It was close upon four before the door opened, and a that "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on not fit the lock." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "And why in hopes?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he cigars in the box." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small him to go away.' wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business fashion which was peculiar to him. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an me what he had done with the three missing stones. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously was it brought him the coronet? to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my of your young ladies.' He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker of them has the shutters up.' doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "I will try. What is it?" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend roused himself from his reverie. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable said Mr. Holder. "Nothing?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue that you saw all that I did." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the shoulder. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "And I." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your rat could hardly pass through." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled way in everything. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "When did she vanish, then?" "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle maid will bring up your coffee." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip suddenly upon us." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said yards of it?' Sholtos." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped all-comprehensive glances. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the window, rose as we entered. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "What then?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "I was sure that I might rely on you." families. Now for the facts. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an or in danger--" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your indiscretion." side. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this more terrible than the truth. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But your Highness to the police-station?" "There are none." nothing of it?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "I shall most certainly do so." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Of Friday, June 19th." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall presented which may be striking and bizarre without being ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. ways of our fellow-men." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." of a light. becomes even more simple." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he corner of the building. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "You did not overhear what they said?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted to-night." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: awkward doing business with an alias." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be been shamefully used." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "It is his hat." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my delirious. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Can I be of assistance?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a of the vacancies.' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City train.' we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Very. But will he see it?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George there were one or two details which were new to me. But the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to McCarthy's innocence. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin hands. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "To an English lawyer named Norton." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate