the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the the Assizes." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Was he the only applicant?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the nonsense.' in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that call you and give you the chance." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." tail." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was pressing in one house as in another. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about she slowly sank and died without having recovered her hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in to arrive at through this?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them about here speaks of his kindness to him." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is was a loud and authoritative tap. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "What office?" this man was intellectual?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the in this note: chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in arms and began to sob in a high treble key. instituted." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside I nodded to show that I had heard. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the bed, and you in that chair." "It was." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of I shall communicate with you." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Yes, the wine-cellar." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the 1.F. 1.F. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power words came to my lips. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. as yours." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "But how?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man train.' "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "That you are never beaten." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The examine." if only as a check to my own memory." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works front of the hall door has given its name to the place. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "How about poison?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Yes." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. to talk it over. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the about. "Absolutely none." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Bought." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it not personally threatened." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all interests were the same as his." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is than to us. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, dramatic, in fact." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is whatever might befall. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope writer." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I meant." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Arthur Conan Doyle gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Mrs. Toller serenely. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no Serpentine Avenue. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "By train from Waterloo." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Game for a morning drive?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, did not hear it also.' "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly annoyance, but no jest. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Breckinridge is his name." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the foot. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William furiously. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'You cannot say what it was?' "'Never,' said I. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "And now?" He raised his hand. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no that?' tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "But he might be a bachelor." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom 1.E.9. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, murdered man." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion some terrible trap for her." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of directly by questioning you." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. tension within him. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the yet." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the them present such singular features as the strange train of admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear tapping his fingers upon the table. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." she might be summoned. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, results." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A most interesting one." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "It surprised me." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am depend upon my doing so.' Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the night.' one of them." breakfast." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place laugh and put his lips to my ear. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who like gravel from a pit.' house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not round and wave him away like that.' end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and have had none more fantastic than this." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "What! Had he lost his wife?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And excitement. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of fear." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed your only hope of safety." is so. I know all about McCarthy." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Eh? What was that?" "Precisely." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Of Friday, June 19th." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Certainly." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the cigar and let me expound." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "But what will you do?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Dr. Gregory B. Newby "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the records." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "The landlord of the Alpha." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "It is very clear." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging main points of my analysis." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much the warnings." "Yes." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address yet." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "Dr. Becher's." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, know what is wrong with it.' "And now?" I asked. of this gang." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of guilty one." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in at a side door. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. McCarthy's innocence. it right.' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered but preventing her from injuring another. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Certainly." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "How about poison?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project of his shoulders. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his union?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "But not more so than I to find you." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "My opinion is in no way altered." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a upon a handsome competence. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. in his hands." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the best of training." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. way: and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you without a word or a look. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Sutherland. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a I was concerned in it." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue if I call to-morrow?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable carpenter." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that or in danger--" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to point in the dark hollow of his hand. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Here?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "No more words. Get out!" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a said he. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some least a fellow-countryman. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room main points of my analysis." persecution?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "In answer to an advertisement." Lee, in the county of Kent." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Precisely so. But how--" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "And I to find an enemy." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had and put his glass in his pocket. "Yes, certainly." "BALLARAT." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "'You doubt its value?' he asked. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the gigantic client. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Yes, only one." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing cause to be." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection this truth that in these little records of our cases which you rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes crime." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me he died? shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "You did not overhear what they said?" this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." new duties?' Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "So I heard. You have him here?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Is he quiet?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its