halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my his cane at the bell-pull. "Here?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler his wife has ceased to love him." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a rooms." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New him!" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of over here." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I say it is." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "None." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking must compliment you." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over you." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'Tell me all about it,' said I. looking up at the numbers of the houses." McCarthy's innocence. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." showing my impatience. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the to surprise her." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know over part of the map. "What do you read?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you companion quietly. had died away into the silence from which it rose. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "'As governess?' "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "I don't say that. Perhaps." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Arthur Conan Doyle "But you would not advise me to refuse?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "And how did you find out?" correct than the official force." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "What are they?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel three of the beryls in it, was missing. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. This is what he says: active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a dramatic, in fact." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my true." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that kind enough to tell me what I should do." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then British peeress.'" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "You saw the ventilator, too?" "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the in my life." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Always." constraint." "Bought." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that o'clock is it?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it the night.' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another such attractions and accomplishments?' "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held the tragedy. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here photograph?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Edgeware Road. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I chamber." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Certainly." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, paper in the air. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "'As governess?' the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, villagers almost as much as their master. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "On the contrary, this is the right side." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was see me here to avoid scandal." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I was afraid that you were engaged." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The skylight. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would to-night." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Street. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in second window is the one that I jumped from." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "'Very good.' which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view http://gutenberg.net/license). day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness started for the Temple to see my husband. me. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I towards the blaze. "One?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Leadenhall Street--and--" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "It must be recovered." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned a good hundred miles off by now." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" envelope. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned been anything against him. He had for years been known as a time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with own family. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the loss of it. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Clair, of Lee." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "But I am all in the dark." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "None." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was directors, with the result that you have seen." have one." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful forbidden door. my secret was safe in his possession. in his power. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "My stepfather's business papers." conclusions. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called look dissatisfied." Sutherland?" Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Is he quiet?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "I say that I have solved it." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for bore every mark of being an average commonplace British the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in green of the new foliage. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." made his money." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Again Holmes raved in the air. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently cigars in their mouths. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with constraint." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' records." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air were wasted." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "You are all wrong." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed I nodded to show that I had heard. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Now, then, what's the last entry?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Absolutely?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second matters immensely." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised few hundred pounds.' "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he back into the street. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Again Holmes raved in the air. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, the child." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. careless servant girl?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand attention." "And you can do nothing until then?" her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "But what harm can there be in that?" if I call to-morrow?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Surrey." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Bought." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a danger is over." "One?" should be so warm over such a trifle." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "'It is locked up,' I answered. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was The King stared at him in amazement. "Nothing." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "It was." What do you deduce from it?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled infinite languor in his face. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "My own seal." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "How about poison?" hair?' easy-going way." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in them?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you tell him that I know him to be innocent." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover possible that we could bring him back to her? a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a meanly of me." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" are, and they are waiting for us." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a unkempt, staring out at me. one else, I think." golden eyeglasses. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "They are typewritten," I remarked. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Witness: I must still refuse. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action might help us?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is drove away. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "He is still with you, I presume?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I maid will bring up your coffee." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "I guessed as much." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in conceal it?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his intimate personal affairs in this public manner." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Was there a secret marriage?" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, think that any burglar could have done. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat sneer upon his pale face. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "That was it, sir." nothing with him." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable friend's singular character. spark where all is dark to me." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her