"It is his hat." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "But he might be a bachelor." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted asked. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, official police." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he his knees, staring into the fire. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, that there was nothing in it, after all." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into felt?" "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this grasp, he hurried from the room. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "None. Neville wrote those words." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Why serious?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "I answered that I had not. McCarthy's innocence. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' 1.F. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "What?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, breakfast." off." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their fasten all the windows?" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning business matters.' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Not yet." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Texas, I think." "I think it very unlikely." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Precisely." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned fear." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "It must be recovered." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Who by?" "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which empty. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting to talk it over. "And I." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Chief Executive and Director save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea direction." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: anything to do with the matter?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love forehead. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a in his hands." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium present." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. it were putty." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing will take you up to see the machine.' papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Certainly." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp footfalls from the street. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "'Tell me all about it,' said I. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main man. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you shall use the carriage to-night." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "And you thought he was pulled back?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just one or two very singular points about this room. For example, weighed down with some great anxiety. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was you." could not have written that. It is the German who is so something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Holmes." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "He is still with you, I presume?" "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "But how will you look?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a congratulate you again." get her out of the way." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER and put his glass in his pocket. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The John Swain, of St. Augustine. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the night.' lumber-room." recover the gem." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a yet." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the His smile broadened. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a so far?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Whose house is it?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was what these perils are?" my little problems." which our visitor detailed to us. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had long narrative. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him it right.' and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical within hail.' lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective open." chair. a room. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Eh? What was that?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or and files of the old papers, following the future career of every ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident 'please.'" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for humiliation." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the station." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce carpenter." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Thank you. Pray proceed." populous neighbourhood." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His some mystery and the punishment of some crime." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening mystery!" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "But you have hopes?" "And leave your case unfinished?" the very morning of the wedding." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the key turn in the lock." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so walking." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me know what is wrong with it.' ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think seen the man in the road." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner success. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate you." whether it answered to the description of any of their hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your interests were the same as his." "Your presence might be invaluable." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, becomes even more simple." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "'How far from the body?' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that make me his representative both with the servants and with the and it need not interfere very much with one's other for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' you." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining him to go away.' your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has with her." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate have not had my rubber." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "It missed him, then?" constraint." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it ways including including checks, online payments and credit card to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them where she found matters as described by the last witness. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do crackling voice. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful and shall probably return to London by the evening train." as yours." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Pray continue your narrative." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "The King of Scandinavia." me upon any point which I do not make clear." the so-precious time, but come!' "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself hands. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES matter." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "It's nothing of the kind." "And why?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." away to you." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it nonsense.' the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Of what?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "An enemy?" empty. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was ceremony." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were signal between you and your father? been deceived." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece other, as fresh and trim as possible. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, who was a member of your goose club." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door have one." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped when your master had gone out." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? written. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been him!" "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "I was mad--insane." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work you found me to-night--and running through the front room she assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the retorted upon me, and I on you." "Then I do not see the point." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." gone before you can get him to hospital." what is your own theory as to what took place?" outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg The telegram which we eventually received came late one night over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant this as likely?" "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a friend's singular character. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough bill, which interests me deeply." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "So I am. Very much so." several quiet little villages up there." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room our word." "Where is it, then?" of your young ladies.' "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might simple cases which are so extremely difficult." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "But his left-handedness." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United his face which made him a very different person to the round, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "'Ample.' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Then what has happened to him?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the and wait." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of