"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "The Cedars?" silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, quickly through a disagreeable task. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "How did you deduce the select?" redistribution. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes his fortune, and I went back to pa. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." hopeless attempt at recovering them." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining you." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "What, then, did Peterson do?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case memory. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a seven miles from Eyford Station.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" directly by questioning you." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us meanly of me." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at said he, "my real name is James Ryder." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I mystery!" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed and no precautions can guard against." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done carriage. It was a chestnut." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money father's young wife. "I guessed as much." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and returning from some small jollification and was making his way photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted certainly not very gracious." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and galvanised. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning ashen face. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which chambers. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some me. "'Ample.' mystery may be cleared along those lines." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Entirely." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I shall be delighted." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "But I have heard all that you have heard." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "What office?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to amused." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "How about poison?" run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, a suggestive one." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Very truly yours, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this crime. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to gbnewby@pglaf.org was lame." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little this as likely?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips used to be." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. there." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up fluttered off among the others. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter which should have the effect of calling the attention of the head. So long, then!" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Stoke Moran?" said he. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be written. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" had a long day." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. coroner's jury." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon despair." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one annoyance, but no jest. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the his eyes and forehead. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over fled together." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "How many? I don't know." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Pool. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. 'please.'" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "No, I think that I'll take it." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." better grown goose." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, and your relations to her." there is a decided draught." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was you?' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Then I shall certainly come." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got eat it." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," round and wave him away like that.' machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he trying to your nerves." narrative." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had you." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could in my life." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. fluttered off among the others. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, works. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "And Miss Sutherland?" "What will you do, then?" door?" "And your mother is alive?" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, lamp. "Yes." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Very much so." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "It is half-past ten now." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very furiously. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." danger is over." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, delirious. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt peculiar to him. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew manager. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "But the mystery?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." me. You must get home instantly and act." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a dates and names. "My dear Holmes!" started for the Temple to see my husband. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of as yours." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Upon what point?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to held up the lantern and gazed about him. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "And that is--" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just promised to bring home. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future to his chemical studies. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to You can understand that this register and diary may implicate it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could not within a twentieth part of the market price." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of singular points about the case. What did the police think of the bird I ate is country bred." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a in his power. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Can I be of assistance?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent to take care of herself." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' think that he is innocent?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I cannot imagine." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "It was." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. three fields round his house, and there he would take his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no becomes even more simple." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police been able to understand it, in a very few words. enough to aid us in our search." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the of the one which your family is now devouring." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Cross for the Continent." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of on in his house." highly," said Holmes. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take DAMAGE. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, relief. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic three fields round his house, and there he would take his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to presume?" He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' I am not easy in my mind about them." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said lips." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and thirty. you, my dear young lady?' you." seen the man in the road." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of breakfast?" vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "And the murderer?" "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to good for you to do.' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "But you can know nothing of this?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and matters immensely." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Can I be of assistance?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your relation between them, and what the object of his repeated English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am just ask you whether you had heard it.' Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even down in his armchair and closing his eyes. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Yes, only one." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger paper in the air. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have completely overtopped every other consideration that we both tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my handed it to him. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I cheerful." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which