method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can experiences." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord spare." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Ten will be early enough." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Who by?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Heh?' I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, You want to know what became of those geese?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "But you were on a friendly footing?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Certainly." "Deserted you?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "What! You do not mean bodies?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "A confidential servant?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." lamp. posted to-day." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after problems help me to do so." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but to surprise her." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "By no means." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well written. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your could gather together that I was able to avert another public creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would carriage. It was a chestnut." beyond words. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard bedroom door." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same you came in." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time followed. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I cigars in their mouths. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "The landlord of the Alpha." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. the warnings." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to may have an influence upon European history." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was digesting their breakfasts at home." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "None." "Certainly." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the Friday. Was it to be in church?" his face. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and ashen face. his grey eyes. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Sholtos." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "But how?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY tell him that I know him to be innocent." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "You have carte blanche." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, gone before you can get him to hospital." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may intimate personal affairs in this public manner." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "You are all wrong." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the bottom.' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we pressing in one house as in another. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our heavy and sharp instrument." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead cheerful." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Eyford at 11:15.' which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Not social, then?" "But to whom?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime I was concerned in it." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. business in the City. She little knew what. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us enter into my head. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned 'I should be able to look after that for you.' wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down outsides of the windows. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." be best to do. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." any little problem which you may submit to me." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. undoubtedly my uncle's." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery business matters.' great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a front of me. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that experiences." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Certainly not. But why?' "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save someone who had been in Australia." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "It missed him, then?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, dramatic, in fact." "No. What a strange idea!" in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I the matter?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "ARAT," I read. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and which should have the effect of calling the attention of the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Clair, of Lee." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. guilty parties." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the roots. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates I. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what me where it went to?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. vanished into the darkness. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Why? What do you mean?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Because he was handy and would come cheap." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "What then?" "Breckinridge is his name." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I am sure." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Breckinridge is his name." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, into the bag, and made for the door. placed his cuttings. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Henry Baker is a member." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Pray continue your narrative." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court lectures into a series of tales." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'Yes, it was gone.' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "But we can't all be." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my peculiar to him. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "How often?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each photograph?" "It is a murder, then?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. head. So long, then!" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself is worth.' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which trying to your nerves." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Count Von Kramm." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by as yours." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "A confidential servant?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Where does the thing come from?' redistribution. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "She will not sell." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a weary and pale-looking. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'And what salary do you ask?' There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Why? What do you mean?" "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? light and attacked it." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony you understand?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Never to return." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "You were travelling in the States?" "I am in hopes that she does." may never be exposed to such a temptation." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Oh, no.' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "'Never.' this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident made his money." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the furiously. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "On Monday." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every bird of prey. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' views." door?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from be. voice. had died away into the silence from which it rose. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "You have compromised yourself seriously." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope I am not easy in my mind about them." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is ordinary clothes on?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with information in his hands the value of which he did not himself locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "And Miss Sutherland?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our not interfere, come what may. You understand?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal was keenly on my guard against him. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. becomes even more simple." lost nothing by them." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the visitors." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Only as much as we can deduce." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Holmes. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court new duties?' "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "But your client--" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about might have a private word with us. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. humiliation." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall article?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to once more for Briony Lodge. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "And now?" He raised his hand. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "The knees of his trousers." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, dead, shall be safe with us." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "He is still with you, I presume?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he row." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Whose house is it?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "In heaven's name, what for?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage