together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same habit of advancing money.' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I burst out into a roar of laughter. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought the warnings." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "And how did he make his money?" "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came society." sake, don't!" something of him before." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, my former friend and companion. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Sutherland. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "How did you deduce the select?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "And sit in the dark?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are never to learn it at all." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, in the dead of the night?' would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a suddenly upon us." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I you." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "At the wedding breakfast." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Your presence might be invaluable." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts is so. I know all about McCarthy." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned will find little credit to be gained out of this case." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just that I may have something better before very many minutes are to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Farm upon the left." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we the bottom.' sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not nothing with him." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally room. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "You think so, too?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever again on its way. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "If I can be of use." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as down. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside him!" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the south-west, I see." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Stoke Moran?" said he. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all fuss that is made over them." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "But we can't all be." "None." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Yes, but only for you and me." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly been." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, with you?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most with her." as noiselessly as she had come. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to that you saw all that I did." "Oh, fresh and glossy." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Yes." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Certainly." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Do you go out much in society?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at wedding?" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the child." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from heavy and sharp instrument." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "I will get her to show me." "Then you may entirely rely on me." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety useful material for showing traces. The double line a little remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck Serpentine Avenue. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "From his hat?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for ill-usage at the hands of fortune. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address threw himself down with his face to the pillow. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be tapping his fingers upon the table. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. success. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of I nodded again. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which when you have done it." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Have you it here?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "And how did he make his money?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have without success. At last the little money which I had saved began studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man was it brought him the coronet? upon the shelf for the interim." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply until night should bring an explanation. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose other means.' "What do you make of that, Watson?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the armchair which I pushed forward for him. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Very truly yours, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and salesman. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "'I have already given you my word.' residence of the great financier. "Quite so." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Your sister is dead, then?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "How do you know, then?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I think it very unlikely." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the notes," he said. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he infinite languor in his face. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "What I expected to see." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to footfalls from the street. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Her father is very rich?" and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several the salesman. it." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I think that I had better go, Holmes." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess rat could hardly pass through." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right trifles." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave words came to my lips. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a father's young wife. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "How did you deduce the select?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the been." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You your own bird, so if you wish--" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, crime." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Doctor, of the paper and the date." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Seven!" I answered. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next you for a few hours?" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he drove away. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "I should like to see him very much." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Not him." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off it right.' "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but our word." will he say when he returns?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six me have 200 pounds?' "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Clair, of Lee." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'As governess?' good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the was it brought him the coronet? unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of clang of the bell. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some them, and came down just as you departed. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "When did it break out?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he that you can jump it.' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. straighten it?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the roots. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. there when the Rucastles went away." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Leadenhall Street--and--" he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "What?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran window when the police appeared." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "How do you know, then?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while note?" it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper or in danger--" unkempt, staring out at me. ready to-morrow?' and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Precisely." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It entirely devoid of interest." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "In answer to an advertisement." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Dirty?" interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "But of what society?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest The police have openly confessed that they can at present make nonsense.' the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "He disappeared so suddenly." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' stalked out of the room.