here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a despair." to his chemical studies. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Perhaps I have." again before evening." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she writer." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Whose house is it?" and laid it on the table. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "But what will you do?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "You are hungry," I remarked. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg minor matters until to-morrow." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Very well, sir. And this stone?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her heavy and sharp instrument." there was no need for father to know." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered are, I think, all that we need." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, were new raised from a basin. shoulder. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in that you wished to speak to me?' it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Where to?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Young McCarthy must be got off, however." gone. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "This concluded the examination of the witness." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The highly," said Holmes. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she over here." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "I would pay ten." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Ah!" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Deserted you?" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and a shock of very red hair. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms ordinary clothes on?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "And the murderer?" when you have done it." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where never will be, entirely cleared up. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "And sit in the dark?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" is acting for the best. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the past. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen formed some opinion?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version at a side door. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, arrangements." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP there were so many in the whole country as were brought together handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and pierced for earrings?" reach." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "One horse?" interjected Holmes. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has important." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting just called myself is not exactly my own." manager. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few danger is over." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "'Why that?' I asks. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "It is solved." girl said." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "His face fell immediately. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. begun to whiten, even as mine has." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! she used." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate the matter." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to use an arc-and-compass breastpin." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Foundation http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "The decline of his fortunes, then?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." hurried away. events than those which have happened in my own family." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you giving me time to thank him. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose up this clue while it is still hot." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the foresight and the moral retrogression?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most fasten all the windows?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Ah, but I was recommended to you." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it you do it in twenty minutes!' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the delirious. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "You have but to name it." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off my former friend and companion. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no think that he is innocent?" lost nothing by them." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "I am in hopes that she does." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the ways of our fellow-men." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "What have you to say now?" "That is it on the dressing-table." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became of his shoulders. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called is four-and-twenty." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and key turn in the lock." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the be there in time for your coming." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, matter." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be into the room. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small felt the room to be a little close.' breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for prepare for the new role I have to play." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with less than 26s. 4d. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Whose house is it?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Only as much as we can deduce." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the excitement. his eyes and forehead. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "I cannot think." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I the south-west, I see." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "He said too much." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies was a loud and authoritative tap. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Munro.' enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." second window is the one that I jumped from." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the chance." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my purpose of examination. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his himself to hunt down. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Who by?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Which are?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." intrusion of other matters." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who behind me. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "That you are never beaten." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered too. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be bonnet, and went out." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at heavy and sharp instrument." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an than was visible to me." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, interest. They are important, you understand, without being manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he distinguish the words: us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in It was close upon four before the door opened, and a did not hear it also.' struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his writers could invent nothing more crude." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "But you have hopes?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "But he might be a bachelor." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it said he. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of interests were the same as his." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, would then never go into court at all." been with you?" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock my little problems." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Have you it here?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across might help us?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "You are all wrong." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "'You cannot say what it was?' during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. before the coroner and the police-court." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." corner of the building. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases since then to throw any light upon what became of him." very old mansion. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were one or two very singular points about this room. For example, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is notes," he said. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "He said too much." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Perhaps I have." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of