deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was a perfect sample of the class. "I assure you that I am in your hands." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "There are none." then?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "What is it, then--a fire?" I. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I his cane at the bell-pull. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Can I be of assistance?" Mrs. Toller serenely. second window is the one that I jumped from." "My opinion is in no way altered." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "At half-wages, in fact." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the coronet in his hands?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There IS time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his crime." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "But his lameness?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "No bad?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the leave you to your papers for a little." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "What! You do not mean bodies?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Entirely." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a that he has suffered." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the your only hope of safety." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge him nearly every evening." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if during that time.' quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. grasp, he hurried from the room. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "No. His orders were to stay in the house." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Absolutely?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of to Leatherhead. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Pray be precise as to details," said he. young Openshaw's." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in was feeling which was the fattest.' "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in http://gutenberg.net/license). and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "About a month then." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said third from London." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Bought." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the inner apartment." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him side. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you present." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, in this way: "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, became a certainty. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend bled considerably." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is will find little credit to be gained out of this case." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I was afraid that you were engaged." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be in the dead of the night?' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from crowd. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "'How far from the body?' in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom closely." "He is still with you, I presume?" redistribution. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the rose-bushes. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: third from London." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and shall use the carriage to-night." matter." are windows in it, of course?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the that you saw all that I did." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "'I have already given you my word.' the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "And for present expenses?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position case-book, which he consulted. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "That is not always so easy." was it brought him the coronet? the station." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of with you alone." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such believe that I should never have any practice at all. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house once more to my work. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "But how will you look?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. hands. desk. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view true." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I felt the room to be a little close.' "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger bled considerably." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "What are they?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What second window is the one that I jumped from." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Certainly." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself are windows in it, of course?" "No." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "We must have a cab." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my answer." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and bonnet, and went out." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and said he. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have constraint." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At started for the Temple to see my husband. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; lids now and glanced across at his visitor. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the coronet in his hands?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very enough to aid us in our search." paper in the air. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "He said that you could solve anything." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if examine." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Did you become engaged then?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. pressing in one house as in another. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but see a sister of mine apply for." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Ah, but I was recommended to you." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the room while you explain this matter?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than round and wave him away like that.' dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward yards of it?' closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I have hopes." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way outside. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." at my own good fortune. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his at my remark. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "From his hat?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous I think that I could be of assistance to you." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. we went to search for him, face downward in a little didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a disappearance of the bride.'" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "By no means." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers case-book, which he consulted. desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. coat-tails." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "My private note-paper." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow deduce something from that?" something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Dark enough and sinister enough." would then never go into court at all." His name is Francis Prosper." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "On your arm?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Do you receive much company?" he asked. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would in this note: some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of province." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "You think that he is dead?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "'Yes, it was gone.' that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, placed his cuttings. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself conclusions. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside acted in my house last night?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are cause to be." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another companion imperturbably. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "And why in hopes?" "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as the coroner come to?" "Yes." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to your equipment. Henry Baker is a member." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at chair. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white that he has suffered." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the